Double Ovechkin, three points Panarin and the debut victory of Shesterkin: how the Russians spent the game day in the NHL

Ovechkin in the company of the great

Alexander Ovechkin recently did not please his performance. The Washington Capitals have scored just one goal in their last five games and only four in their fifteen. But the arrival in the US capital, Ottawa Senators, one of the weakest NHL teams this season, helped the Russian hockey player not only to feel the forgotten taste of goals, but also to go down in history.

Ovechkin scored twice, participating in the defeat of Canadians with a score of 6: 1. First, the captain of the “Washington” scored in the 38th minute, throwing with brushes from the right circle, while defender Christian Yarosh tried to prevent him. After 20 minutes, Ovechkin put an end to the match, closing John Carlson's transfer from the more familiar left circle.

Two new goals allowed the Russian to climb to 11th place among the best snipers in NHL history. Ovechkin caught up with the Finnish Teem Selanne - they both scored 684 goals over their careers. At the same time, the Washington striker needed 323 matches less for that number of goals. Very soon, Ovechkin will be able to squeeze a few more hockey legends. He has six goals left to Mario Lemieux, eight to Steve Aizerman and ten to Marc Messier. Already in February, the Russian hockey player could well be in the top eight snipers.

“Without my guys, my partners, I would never have reached that number. Being in such a company (with Selanne) is very nice. But, you know, there is still a lot to come. I will try, ”Ovechkin told the NHL press service.

The match with Ottawa also allowed Ovechkin to re-enter the fight for Maurice Richard Trophy. Now he has 26 goals in a season, and he caught up with third-place players Jack Aikel and Nathan McKinnon. Ovechkin needs to score three more goals in order to catch up with Oston Matthews, and six in pursuit of David Pastarnyak.

One of the heroes of the match between Washington and Ottawa was also the goalkeeper of the Capitals Ilya Samsonov. He made 26 saves, having missed only one throw of Artyom Anisimov at the very beginning of the meeting.

This victory was the 12th for the Russian goalkeeper in his debut season in the NHL. He had previously become the most successful rookie in Washington's history, reaching ten won matches in a record 12 games. Now Samsonov has another landmark. He won seven games in a row in the starting lineup and is just one victory from club achievement Bob Mason, who set a record among newcomers in the 1984/1985 season.

Panarin caught up with Kuznetsov

Shock gaming day and spent Artemy Panarin. After he did not score a single point in the first two matches of 2020, the Russian forward brought the New York Rangers a victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

Panarin tried hard to improve his statistics - for the first time in his career, he made eight shots in the NHL match. But all the pucks flew past the gate for a long time. The Russian striker only helped the partners and earned them two points for performance. Panarin's draws allowed the Rangers to lead with a score of 4: 3 to the 34th minute of the match.

Finally, at the end of the game, when Colorado goalkeeper Philip Grubauer resigned, Panarin scored the long-awaited goal. Over the past six matches, he has earned 13 points for performance and climbed to sixth place among the top scorers of the season.

Panarin also obeyed another curious achievement. He caught up with Evgeni Kuznetsov on points, with whom he won the 2011 World Youth Championship. Forward “Rangers” has a career career 378 points, and while he spent in the NHL 93 matches less than Kuznetsov.

Shesterkin's winning debut

The career of goalkeeper Ilya Shesterkin in the NHL officially started. After he left SKA and signed a two-year contract with the Rangers, the Russian was immediately sent to the Hartford Wolf Pack farm club, which helped him win 18 of 22 matches in the AHL. On January 6, Shesterkin was finally called up to the main squad, and the very next day head coach David Quinn decided to put the Olympic champion against Colorado.

The start of the match was worse for the Russian goalkeeper - in seven minutes he missed two shots out of four. But Shesterkin didn’t allow himself anything like that, and out of the next 28 throws of “Avalanche” only one goal was achieved. He was only the fifth player in the history of the Rangers, who managed to celebrate his victory in the debut game.

“When I arrived at the stadium, I could not drink water, my hands were shaking. But then after going onto the ice the team and the fans supported me, I forgot about everything and enjoyed the moment. After the victory, my feelings were magnificent, I was looking for my parents, my wife, I wanted to wave them. I didn’t see it, but waved in their direction anyway, ”Shesterkin admitted after the match.

At the same time, the Russian helped his club interrupt a series of three defeats and now has every chance of ousting Henrik Lundqvist from the starting lineup, who gave the club 14 years from New York.

Kovalchuk's performance

Ilya Kovalchuk spent his second match with Montreal Canadiens even better than the first. In a meeting with the Detroit Red Wings, the forward has already organized two attacks, which ended with the goals of the Canadian team. Kovalchuk was greatly helped by the trust of coach Claude Julien, who allowed the Russians to spend more than 21 minutes on ice for the first time in a season - this did not happen to him at Los Angeles Kings.

However, the performance of Kovalchuk, who scored three points in two debut matches, has not yet benefited Montreal. The team has lost the seventh meeting in a row and has the worst series in the NHL at the moment. The Canadiens are seven points behind the Eastern Conference playoff zone and still have little chance of playing in the Stanley Cup.