Victory Day for Russians in the NHL: Kucherov gave three assists, Barbashev scored a double, Ovechkin returned to the ice

Kucherov's leadership in the scorer race

Domestic fans were waiting with great interest for the next confrontation between Nikita Kucherov and Kirill Kaprizov in the NHL.

Moreover, the previous one, at the beginning of the year, ended with a confident victory for Tampa Bay on the road.

But Minnesota failed to take revenge.

Moreover, this time she missed seven goals and was defeated with a score of 3:7.

And Kucherov, who scored three points in the head-to-head duel, left no chance for his compatriot, who was content with one assist.

And although the match did not start very well for the Lightning, already in the sixth minute Yoel Eriksson Ek put the guests ahead with a powerful click.

The hosts’ response was swift, and at a difficult moment it was the Russian team leader who led the partners forward.

He threw the puck to Victor Hedman, who gave Filip Gustafsson no chance.

If the first period turned out to be equal, then in the second the advantage of John Cooper's charges was overwhelming.

They carried out one sharp attack after another and naturally distinguished themselves three times.

Kucherov also scored another assist, picking up the shot behind the goal and finding Brayden Point on the net.

But the Wild managed to convert rare chances and reduced the gap to a minimum.

In particular, Kaprizov gave an assist to Marco Rossi.

However, in the final period, Tampa Bay calmly finished off the opponent.

Before the teams had time to return to the ice, Marcus Johansson went to the penalty box for playing with a high stick.

The hosts quickly converted the majority.

After Kucherov's timely transfer from the right edge to the opposite edge, Steven Stamkos from the left circle almost tore the net with a powerful flick.

After that, the opponents stopped resisting and conceded twice more.

And Nikita was deservedly recognized as the first star of the confrontation.

With 75 points, he again moved ahead of Nathan MacKinnon in the scoring race, and also closed the gap on him in the list of top snipers.

The Russian has 47 passes this season, while the Canadian has 49.

Moreover, the domestic athlete surpassed the bar of 500 assists in the NHL during his career and became the ninth Russian to achieve this after Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Ovechkin, Sergei Zubov, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Gonchar and Alexander Mogilny.

And in the history of the club he reached this mark the fastest - in 688 meetings.

“He achieved it so quickly, it's another incredible year for us.

Considering how Nikita sees the ice and how he knows how to play, it’s not surprising that he already has 500 assists to his name,” Point rejoiced at his partner’s success.

Barbashev's finest hour

Ivan Barbashev, unlike his star compatriots, rarely finds himself in the spotlight.

He is not known for high scoring and is not a leader in Vegas.

For example, this season, before the confrontation with the Rangers, he had only nine goals to his name, and his goalless streak lasted almost a month.

But on January 19, the striker effectively interrupted it and allowed the Golden Knights to defeat their venerable opponent at home - 5:1.

The Russian managed to upset Igor Shesterkin twice and became the first star.

Moreover, his first goal in the 15th minute turned out to be quite controversial.

Taking advantage of Jonathan Marchessault's transfer from the right, he actually skated it into the net.

The judges watched the replay for a long time to see if there was a violation of the rules, but in the end they came to the conclusion that the hockey player did not play football intentionally, and therefore the goal should not be cancelled.

Shortly before the final break, the forward scored absolutely cleanly on the power play, shooting Shesterkin from close range after a pass from the end line.

Now Ivan has 11 goals and 21 points this NHL season.

But for the home goalkeeper of the visitors, the meeting was, to put it mildly, not the most successful.

He missed four and made just 21 saves.

On the other hand, it is difficult to make claims against him for even one goal.

In three cases, killer clicks were made at point-blank range, and in another episode, Keegan Kolesar corrected the projectile on the penny.

His partner Artemi Panarin helped the Rangers close the gap early in the third period, assisting Mika Zibanejad.

Finally, Artyom Zub and Vladimir Tarasenko allowed Ottawa, which was at the bottom of the league table, to unexpectedly defeat Montreal at home - 6:2.

The defender's passes turned out to be decisive in many ways, as they helped deprive the opponent of confidence in their abilities even in the starting period.

It took him just 147 seconds to score two points.

Both moments turned out like a carbon copy.

First, the Russian passed to Ridley Greig at his own goal, and he threw Brady Tkachuk into the gap.

Then Zub himself won the shell from the side in his own half and managed to throw it back to Tim Stützle.

The German broke through to the opponent's goal and, taking advantage of his teammate's opening, hit a close one.

And at the end of the second period, Tarasenko also scored a plus, whose powerful shot from the right circle was not coped with by Caden Primeau.     

Return of Ovechkin

Finally, Alexander Ovechkin returned to action, having missed three matches due to injury.

In the meeting with St. Louis, he spent a little more than 15 minutes on the ice, earned a usefulness rating of +1 and made three shots on target.

Unfortunately, we failed to score.

But the Russian extended his own scoring streak in the current regular season to seven games.

At the very beginning of the third period, at the end of the power play, he scored with a powerful shot from the left circle, which Jordan Binnington coped with great difficulty.

And no one was able to stop Dylan Strome from being the first to finish off.

The main hero of the confrontation was TJ Oshie.

The experienced striker did not take to the ice for almost a month due to injury, but in January he recovered and began to benefit the capital.

In 2024, he upset the Rangers twice in succession, and now he has scored a hat-trick.

Moreover, he threw the last puck into an empty target 20 seconds before the final siren.

Thus, the Capitals won an important victory and continue the battle to get into the playoff zone.

They currently sit in ninth position in the East, just a point behind Tampa Bay and Detroit, but have played fewer games than their rivals.