Ovechkin scores an assist, Washington earns important victory
Washington Capitals, led by Alexander Ovechkin, confidently defeated the Chicago Blackhawks (4:1) in the NHL regular season match and took an important step towards qualifying for the play-offs and competing for the league’s main trophy – the Stanley Cup.
If we also remember that Evgeni Malkin had impressively defeated Pittsburgh two days ago, Washington had won the last two games with a total score of 10:1.
Team captain Alexander Ovechkin made a great contribution to these successes of the capital.
In the match against Chicago, he did not leave the ice without making effective moves and participated in the goal attack completed by Tom Wilson.
It was 14 minutes into the game and Washington was already ahead 2:0 thanks to goals from Michael Sgarbossa and Hendrix Lapierre, who scored for the second game in a row.
But in hockey, such a score does not guarantee anything, and Washington squandered such an advantage more than once. Therefore, it was important to completely demoralize the opponent and leave no chance of returning to the game.
Washington’s power play team did an excellent job of this mission, severely punishing Chicago for the rough play of Jared Tinnordi, who received a two-minute penalty for pushing his opponent into the boards.
Ovechkin rolled the puck from behind the Chicago goal to Dylan Strome, who quickly passed the ball to Tom Wilson, who was sitting alone in the Hawks’ backfield.
From this position, the experienced Moscow forward sent the puck into the goal (3:0) and Ovechkin made an assist.
Thus, for the fifth match in a row, Alexander the Great did not leave the ice without making a blow. During this period, the Russian forward scored two goals and made four assists.
The game was ended by 27-year-old Washington forward Sonny Milano, who became the sixth club player in 25 years to score in five consecutive games.
He made the score 4-0 in the 38th minute. At the end of the game, Chicago lost a goal, but that didn’t change anything: Washington won a landslide victory (4:1).
Ovechkin moved up to 14th place on the list of top scorers in NHL history.
Thanks to Wilson’s assist, Ovechkin has already scored 1,533 points in his entire career and has moved into 14th place on the NHL’s all-time scorers list.
Now the Washington captain shares a line-up with famed Canadian forward Mark Recchi, who scored 1,533 points in his 22-year career in the league. There is no doubt that the Russians will leave this legend behind and rise even higher in the upcoming matches.
Ovechkin is also slowly closing in on Russian hockey great Sergei Fedorov, who is on the list of the best assistants in NHL history.
Alexander the Great currently has 693 assists for his entire career and Fedorov has 696 assists.
When Washington’s captain repeats the feat, he will move into 63rd place on the league’s all-time assists list.
Finally, Ovechkin has come close to Washington legend Dale Hunter in terms of number of games played in the NHL.
For the 38-year-old Russian, this meeting was already the 1406th, and so far he ranks 41st in this indicator. Hunter has just one more game under his belt — 1,407 — and he ranks in the top 40 of most frequently played hockey players in NHL history. Very soon Ovechkin will enter this elite list.
Washington moves closer to playoffs
More recently, the capital’s season looked set to end in disaster, especially when they suffered six consecutive defeats from 21 January to 10 February.
However, after the transformation of Ovechkin, who scored 10 goals and 9 assists in the last 16 matches, the team rose in the rankings.
Currently, Washington has 69 points and sits in tenth place in the Eastern Conference. Just three points away from the coveted eighth place, which allows you to play in the NHL play-offs.
At the same time, the Caps have two games in hand against the Detroit Red Wings, who are currently in eighth place. So everything is in Washington’s hands.
Ovechkin lost his last teammate
The joyful events of recent days for Ovechkin were overshadowed by the departure of his close friend Evgeny Kuznetsov from the club.
They spent 10 years together in Washington and led the team to its first ever Stanley Cup. In the winning 2017/18 season, Kuznetsov updated his personal records in both indicators, scoring 83 points (27 goals + 56 assists) in the NHL regular season.
Kuznetsov, who led the capital in the NHL play-offs and collected 32 points (12+20), became the top scorer of the Stanley Cup and set a new club record in a playoff.
However, the 31-year-old hockey player spent the last few seasons frankly poorly, and the real crisis point was his entry into the NHL player assistance program, where athletes with addictions and other serious psychological problems mostly end up.
As a result, Washington first sent Kuznetsov to a farm club, then traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes. This decision clearly upset Ovechkin.
“It’s hard for me to see this. Kuznetsov was an important part of Washington, he’s a very good friend of mine. Frankly, it’s not our job to make deals. But it was a sad day for us, especially for me. I hope everything will be fine for Kuzi, I hope he can help him in his new place.” I wish you good luck.” The NHL press service quotes Ovechkin on the league’s official website.
Kuznetsov thanked his comrade for his support and expressed confidence that he would break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goalscoring record.
“Ovechkin and I had a great relationship. He was always there for me in good times and bad times. He had a big share in my success. He will be the best sniper in NHL history. I know you will do it,” Russian Machine Never Breaks quotes Kuznetsov.
Ovechkin currently has 840 goals scored in his NHL career. Gretzky has 894.