Washington beat the Islanders on home ice by a score of 3:2 during the NHL regular season. The outcome of the match was decided in overtime and Dylan Strome scored the winning goal. Capital captain Alexander Ovechkin made an assist in this section.
He finished the game with a benefit score of -2. At the same time, the Russians updated a number of achievements. Strome’s assist was his 676th career assist in NHL regular season games. According to this indicator, he surpassed Jerome Iginla and rose to 68th place in the league history in assists.
Additionally, Ovechkin is tied for second place with Pittsburgh leader Evgeni Malkin in points scored in overtime; Both have 39 points. Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby is ahead with 43 points.
Ovechkin also updated another indicator that did not please his fans: the Russian forward continued his personal record-breaking goalless streak.
He went scoreless in the game against the Islanders and has now gone 14 straight games without a goal.
The hockey player answered the journalists’ question about this series philosophically. He emphasized that the main thing for him is the success of the team and that he will score his own goals.
“It’s my job to score goals. If I don’t score goals, I’ll have to do something else to help the team win. Now everyone knows who we are and how we have to play. I have good scoring chances in every game, I just need to take them. Sooner or later it will happen.” The important thing is to get points and win games. Ovechkin was quoted as saying, “I would rather make it to the play-offs than score 20 goals and be eliminated from the Stanley Cup competition at the same time.” press service NHL.
At the same time, before the Islanders match, the “Big Eight” admitted that they were disappointed with the goalless streak. But he pointed out how it affected the team and how Washington overall wasn’t scoring as much as it used to.
“You need some luck. I have good chances but sometimes I hold on tight to the stick because I can’t score again. But I think sooner or later it will happen and everything will be fine.”
I’m disappointed and I think everyone else is too. You see: we are not getting as many points as we used to.
I don’t know if our game strategy or something else is responsible for this. We play hockey and we have to create opportunities. We need to create opportunities for ourselves and our partners so that we all have the chance to score,” Ovechkin convinced.
Capital City head coach Spencer Carbery backed his captain. He expressed confidence that Ovechkin will “move forward” at some point.
“We must focus on the process and creating opportunities. I think Alexander knows his shots are going to hit the target and when that happens it all snowballs from there,” Carbery said.
Caps defenseman John Carlson said Ovechkin’s inability to score isn’t a big deal. He noticed that the captain motivates his partners and drives them forward.
“He plays a huge role in the attack but at the same time he doesn’t score goals, which I don’t think anyone expected. But everyone knows Ovechkin: He can defy any circumstances and do something unexpected. I think he did a great job of staying calm and accepting what was happening. “I think the team is in good shape and that is a very important factor for us,” Carlson concluded.