Forward Alexander Ovechkin continues to write the history of the National Hockey League (NHL). In the next regular season match, the Washington Capitals won an away victory 5-3 over the Calgary Flames. Russian distinguished himself with an assist and an abandoned puck.
Wards Todd Rirden successfully started the second period and led with a score of 2: 0. The defender John Carlson became the author of the debut goal. His assistants were TJ Oshi and Ovechkin. The advantage of the guests was doubled by Chandler Stevenson. In the second period, the hosts managed to equalize, but after 10 seconds the captain was able to again bring his team forward.
“I think the whole game came down to Ovechkin's goal. We lost control, at such a moment initiative from the team leaders is required. And the goal of the Russian after the amazing transfer of Bekstrom was just what we needed. Such goals are incredibly important. The ability to keep the game under control and an understanding of time - this makes them who they are. But the goal was really a significant moment of leadership, ”the NHL official website quoted Rirden as saying.
This game was tied and then OVI! # ALLCAPS # CapsFlamespic.twitter.com / Kj1MKdUFXW
- Washington 👻 Capitals (@Capitals) October 23, 2019This puck really gave confidence to the capital's hockey players, and they not only managed to double the advantage, but also bring the difference to a crushing one. Accurate throws were noted by Tom Wilson and the same Carlson, who made a double as a result. Only in the last seconds of the match, the Calgary striker Tobias Reader managed to close the gap by setting the final score.
Summing up the match, Ovechkin noted the significance of the current victory.
“We knew that for us this game would be difficult, especially in the third period. Veli 3: 2 and understood that the opponent would begin to exert pressure. But we managed to avoid a lot of mistakes, we acted wisely, and you see how it all ended, ”said Ovechkin.
The puck into the gates of Cam Talbo was the seventh for the captain this season. In the list of scorers, he is second only to David Pastarnyak from the Boston Bruins, James Neal from the Edmonton Oilers and Oston Matthews from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In total, in guest games he managed to distinguish himself 210 times. In this indicator, the Russian surpassed the legendary Canadian striker Mark Messier. The leader is Wayne Gretzky, who has 277 goals on his way out of his career.
As for the total number of goals in a career, here Ovechkin with an asset in 665 goals wasted takes 13th place. He is separated from Luke Robitaille by three goals, and in this connection we can safely assume that this line will soon fall before the Great Eight.
In addition, the match against Calgary was the eighth in a row in which the striker scored points. In total, he has 1223 points earned in 14 NHL seasons. According to this indicator, he came close to the top 40. In order to be in it, he needs to score ten points.
Perhaps all of these accomplishments by Ovechkin was inspired by an unusual meeting held on the eve of his departure for Canada. It's no secret that the Russian collects clubs signed by legendary hockey players. Now his collection has replenished with another valuable instance. Another for him was signed by the famous striker Teoren Fleury, who in the 1988/89 season became the owner of the Stanley Cup in the Calgary.
“This morning I came to the stadium and found out that Ovi is a big fan of Theo Fleury. He said that it was just me who inspired him to wear yellow skate laces and a tinted visor. He also asked me for an autographed club. Wonderful morning, ”Fleury wrote on his Instagram page.
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Publication by Theo Fleury (@ theofleury14) Oct 22, 2019 at 12:25 pm PDT
It is worth noting that despite all his achievements, Ovechkin never forgets to pay tribute to the partners. After the match with Flames, Carlson headed the list of the best NHL scorers, who became the first hockey player of the season to reach the 20-point mark on the goal-plus system.
Summing up the meeting, the captain of “Washington” could not help but note the achievement of a teammate, having already offered to nominate him for the prize to the most skillful defender - James Norris Trophy. The award is awarded at the end of the season by a vote held among members of the NHL Journalists Association.
“Starting this morning, we’ve introduced the Johnny on Norris hashtag. Let's see what happens, ”said the striker.
Interestingly, this idea was immediately picked up by users of social networks and the journalists themselves, who positively appreciated Carlson’s performance this season.