Calgary Flames – Washington Capitals – 2:5
This season, the capital’s players have been playing so inconsistently that most experts have difficulty making long-term predictions about the team’s future. At one point it appeared the Caps would finish the regular season in disgrace, outside the playoff zone. But Washington players, led by Alexander Ovechkin, are slowly but surely moving towards their goals. The game against Calgary could be a turning point.
The first period ended 1-0 in favor of the guest team, Dylan Strome opened the score.
And in the second period of the game, it took Ovechkin less than three minutes to score the double, scoring both goals on the power play. As it turned out, the latter prevailed.
Just over a minute later, Kevin Rooney broke the scoring, but before the second intermission Hendrix Lapierre restored Washington’s three-goal lead. And in the last 20 minutes, the teams scored goals; Mackenzie Weegar and Tom Wilson scored respectively. The final siren recorded Washington’s third consecutive victory.
Thus, the “Capital” collected 75 points and rose to eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, leaving “Detroit” behind, which gave the right to play in the play-offs. Publicist Rob Rossi said he has no doubt the Capitals will compete for the Stanley Cup.
“I believe in the Washington Capitals more than any other team competing for a second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Do you want to know why?
“They remain themselves throughout the season,” he wrote on social networks.
“Ovechkin is already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame”
Washington head coach Spencer Carbery shared his thoughts after the game on why the 38-year-old Ovechkin continues to play at the highest level. According to the expert, the reason is clear.
“Stability. Not only in terms of performance, but also in terms of his durability and being able to play one game after another for so many years. Today he scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season, which was very important for us. We had to get everything out of these pucks,” says Carbery. official site NHL.
Ovechkin’s teammate Lapierre emphasized that the entire team is worried about their captain and is trying to help him in his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s sniper record. He called the Russian private.
We all support him and are happy when he scores. Of course, we are happy with the goals of other players, but Ovi has something special.
He scored very important goals today. We are happy for him and are trying to help him in his quest. He’s incredibly nice,” LaPierre said.
Caps forward Dylan Strome expressed the opinion that Ovechkin already deserves to be a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He admitted that he was happy to be a part of the Russian striker’s extraordinary career.
“Impressive. Ovechkin is a world-class player and is already a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. A lot has been said about him, but even though he’s 38 years old, he continues to score. It’s great to be a part of that and watch him,” Strome said.
Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf said he is confident Ovechkin will score more goals against him. He was glad she didn’t let him do that.
“I thought there would be a few more goals from him. It’s special to play against him. Yes, I didn’t have a positive result, but it was exciting, Ovechkin is a very good hockey player. And it’s great that I didn’t let him score any more goals,” Wolf said. Meanwhile, Alexander became the 174th goaltender to score a goal in the NHL.
Ovechkin’s achievements
Considered the first star of the meeting, the Big Eight updated a number of successes in the match with Calgary. First of all, he closed the gap on the sniper record of Wayne Gretzky, who scored 894 goals in his career.
Ovechkin has 843 goals and is 51 goals away from the milestone. He scored 52 (21+31) points in 64 games in total this season.
Additionally, the Russian forward scored the 128th winning goal of his NHL career. According to this indicator, he is only seven goals behind the record of the famous Czech Jaromir Jagr – during his career he scored decisive goals 135 times.
Ovi also improved his position on the list of top scorers in NHL history. As a result of his match with the Flames, he scored 1537 points (843+694) in 1411 matches. He currently sits just two points behind Joe Thornton as the league’s 13th leading scorer; This player reaches 1,539 points in 1,714 games. In terms of total games, Ovechkin surpassed Norm Ullman, equaling Harry Howell and taking 37th place among all players in NHL history.
The Russian scored 20 or more goals in his 19th season. He now ranks third in the number of such seasons behind Ron Francis (20) and Gordie Howe (22).