Ovechkin scored an important goal but missed the decisive penalty kick
Washington Capitals, the leader of the NHL Eastern Conference, entered a tense fight with the Minnesota Wild, one of the strongest teams in the West.
Midway through the first period, the teams traded goals within a minute of each other: Tom Wilson gave Washington the lead, but just 65 seconds later, Ryan Hartman tied the score at 1:1.
In the 19th minute, the capital city gained the majority rights: Minnesota defender Zach Bogosian was sent off for two minutes for holding his opponent with his stick.
However, instead of Ovechkin, Russian Wild forward Yakov Trenin took advantage of a disastrous mistake by Washington goalkeeper Charlie Lindgren to score an improbable goal.
The American goaltender calmly received the puck behind the goal and nothing could stop him from passing it quickly, but he hesitated and waited for Trenin to arrive. As a result, the Russian put so much pressure on him that the 31-year-old goalkeeper got confused and lost the puck. Trenin could only skilfully pass the fallen Lindgren and into the goal: making the score 2:1 in favor of Minnesota, who were in the minority!
Interestingly, this is the third goal scored by the 27-year-old Russian football player this season.
Ovechkin responded to this insolence the next period, when Washington regained the numerical advantage: Minnesota’s Russian forward Marat Khusnutdinov received a four-minute penalty for high sticking.
Ovechkin received the puck very close to the blue line and fired a long-range shot into the bottom left corner – 2:2!
After this, the teams scored again (3:3) and it was time for a penalty shootout.
Matt Boldy scored the lone penalty shot for the Wild, and then Ovechkin stepped onto the court to make the decisive shot for Washington. He had a chance to equalize the score and extend the series, but Ovi could not beat the goalkeeper.
Alexander the Great tried to throw it over Marc-Andre Fleury’s shoulder to the right “nine”, but the goalkeeper raised his hand in time and deflected the puck.
As a result, Minnesota won in the penalty shootout (4:3) and received two points, while Washington received one point.
However, the Capitals maintained their first place in the Eastern Conference by collecting 53 points from 38 games. In the next match – January 4 – they will host the New York Rangers. The match will start at 20.00 Moscow time.
Ovechkin broke the 57-year-old record
Alexander the Great’s goal against Minnesota was the 871st regular season goal of his NHL career. Thus, only 23 goals remain ahead of Wayne Gretzky’s “eternal” record (894 goals).
However, Ovechkin has already broken the record of another NHL legend, Brett Hull.
The Russian surpassed the famous American in the number of goals he scored against the same goalkeeper.
Hull have 40 such goals and Ovechkin now has 41. This is the best result in the history of the NHL since its expansion in the 1967-1968 season, that is, in the last 57 years.
Minnesota veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who scored 41 goals against Ovechkin, even admitted to falling in love with their long-term rivalry.
“I don’t like Ovechkin scoring on me, but I’ve enjoyed this challenge for many years. When you play against the best hockey player in the world, you face a good challenge that forces you to be at your best. I was lucky to be able to play right now,” Fleury said. Hockey News.
Let us also remind you that the 40-year-old goalkeeper announced his retirement at the end of the 2024/25 season.
Back to Ovechkin: The striker managed to move into second place among the best Russian snipers of the season, surpassing Nikita Kucherov, who scored 17 goals.
The Washington captain now has 18 goals. Only Minnesota leader Kirill Kaprizov has more – 23.
Why didn’t Kaprizov take part in the game against Washington?
The 27-year-old Wild forward is still recovering from his lower body injury.
However, Minnesota general manager Bill Guerin said Kaprizov will return in the upcoming games.
“The return status is still any day now. We don’t want to force Kaprizov to return. We need Kirill for a long time, not just for a few games in January,” said Guerin. Athletic.