After the triumphant last season, which ended with the long-awaited victory of the “Washington Capitals” in the Stanley Cup, its leader and captain Alexander Ovechkin many predicted a decline. At the time of the start of the championship, the Russian has turned 33 years old, and at that age the number of points scored usually starts to decrease. It was hard to believe that after reaching the long-awaited goal, the athlete would return as hungry for victories, because if he had a strong incentive to prove something, now he isn’t. In addition, during the last tournament he began to play more on partners, which resulted in the most number of assists in the last seven years (38).
But all the fears were in vain. From the very start of the season, Ovechkin began to put the pucks together in huge numbers, and by the middle of December, he completely gained an incredible shape. Taking the start in the November meeting with the Colorado Avalanche, for the next 12 matches, Alexander did not leave the ice without a score, and in the last game with the Detroit Red Wings broke out a hat-trick. This allowed the forward of the Capitals not only to extend their series, but also to get into first place in the NHL sniper race. Behind him, the Finnish striker Winnipeg Jets, Patrick Laine, also started the championship.
But Ovechkin did not stop there. During a tense guest match with the "Caroline Hurricanes", he again marked three abandoned washers. The Russian forward has once distinguished himself in each of the periods, having completed his own automatic trick. In all three cases, Alexander received the puck near the left circle of the throw-in, from where he sent a projectile into the net with a powerful throw. This helped his team to win in overtime with a score of 6: 5 and extend the winning streak to four meetings.
Ovechkin himself repeated the personal record and scored in the 13th match in a row. Previously, he had succeeded only once - in the 2006/07 season, when he scored 20 (8 + 12) points in such a short period of time. It is noteworthy that this year he also recorded 20 points at his own expense, but this time most of them were the result of accurate throws, and not assists (14 + 6).
It is worth noting that Ovechkin scored his third goal in unequal compositions and set a new record for most goals in one club. On his account was 237 successful shots, which is one more than the legendary Mario Lemieux from the Pittsburgh Penguins. In this case, you can be sure that the achievement of the Russian forward for a long time will not be able to surpass. Among the current hockey players, his closest pursuers are 39-year-old Patrick Marlowe (168) and Marian Hossa (143), as well as his compatriot Ilya Kovalchuk (139).
In addition, Ovechkin came in sixth place by the number of goals in the majority of all history, equaling the former Detroit Red Wings striker Brendan Shanahen. But given the pace of the Washington captain, by the end of his career he has every chance of becoming an absolute champion. At the moment, the leader in this respect is Dave Andreychuk, the ex-forward of Tampa Bay-Lightning, who hit the opponent's goal 274 times in unequal compositions.
Also for Ovechkin, this hat-trick became the 22nd in his career, which allowed him to catch up with the legendary Finnish striker Teemu Seljanne. According to this indicator, the Russian takes the second place in the NHL among European hockey players. The leader is another athlete from Suomi Jari Kurri, who was marked 23 times with three goals in one match. Among other things, Alexander entered the number of only 14 players who managed to hit the opponent's goal three times in two games in a row.
Ovechkin himself was habitually modest in his comments and could hardly find explanations for his astounding rate of fire in this competitive year.
"I do not know what to say. I just try to do my job. Everyone is trying to throw washers, but in the NHL it is not so easy to do. I feel like playing with great hockey players. They help me, so it just remains to do my job. After the previous match, I said that I was glad to have a hat-trick, because it does not happen every day, ”the Washington Post quotes Ovechkin.
According to him, the fact that he managed to distinguish himself in the fourth minute of the meeting, was an important factor in his pursuit of a hat-trick.
“The first shot and immediately a goal. At such times, you think, “Well, I have about 60 more minutes. Maybe it will be possible to score more. " But you never know for sure, ”added the Russian hockey player.
The success of his captain commented and his partner, Nick Dowd. The former Los Angeles Kings forward only joined Washington this season, but already managed to be fascinated by Ovechkin's magic.
“It's great when you have a player in the team who throws six goals in two games. This is more than most of us manage for the whole season. Incredible. He threatens the gate from any position, ”said Daud.
Capitals head coach Todd Rearden was also amazed at his ward's game. He admitted that he did not expect a similar performance from the current champion.
“He came back after winning the Stanley Cup and has been in great shape since day one. And he does not think about stopping, ”concluded Reerden.