Wasted labor: Ovechkin's four points did not save Washington from defeat in the match against Philadelphia

The beginning of the current NHL season was not very successful for Alexander Ovechkin.

In the first four matches, he scored only one goal, and the next four he had to miss at all due to falling into the COVID protocol.

However, after returning to the ice, the Russian reminds himself again.

In the meeting with the Boston Bruins, Ovechkin's goal and pass helped the Washington Capitals win 4-3 overtime.

And in the game with the New York Rangers, he marked the 709th goal in the NHL and went into a clean seventh place in the league's top scorers in history.

Individually, Sunday's confrontation with the Philadelphia Flyers was even more successful for the striker.

For the first time since December 2019, he scored four points per match (2 + 2) and played the 146th NHL match in which he scored more than one point.

For this indicator, Ovechkin ranks fifth.

Only Wayne Gretzky (189), Brett Hull (158), Mario Lemieux (154) and Gordie Howe (147) are ahead.

However, the Capitals suffered their third defeat in a row - 4: 7.

The first period did not bode well for the "capital" of any problems.

They had an advantage and forced the opponent to defend.

Ovechkin was also active.

It was he who opened the scoring in the 12th minute.

Alexander distinguished himself with a trademark click from the left circle of the throw-in and threw the 261st puck in the majority in the NHL.

He has only four goals left before the second-ranked Hull.

Following this, the Russian scored a beautiful assist.

He grabbed the puck in the center of the court, beat Philip Myers, who believed that the forward would shoot on his own, and passed the ball to the empty net to Thomas Wilson.

However, the evil genius of "Washington" was Scott Lawton.

At the end of the first period, he reduced Philadelphia's gap to a minimum, and at the beginning of the second period he evened the score.

Ovechkin immediately stepped in again.

On the 25th minute, he shot Carter Hart on the second try in equal compositions.

By the way, the Canadian is the 144th goalkeeper who conceded from the Russian in the NHL.

The striker himself scored a 711th goal and came close to Phil Esposito (717) in the list of the best snipers in the league.

Also in front are Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801), Jaromir Jagr (766), Brett Hull (741) and Marcel Dionne (731).

Unfortunately, Washington did not lead in the long run.

Throwing shots by Robert Haggaa and James van Riemsdyck helped the Flyers take the lead again.

After another goal, Capitals mentor Peter Laviolette was forced to replace the goalkeeper.

The place of Vitek Vanechek, reflecting only ten shots out of 14, was taken by 39-year-old Craig Anderson, who made his debut in the team.

Nevertheless, the second period still ended with an equal score.

57 seconds before the siren, Niklas Beckström hit Hart's gate, and Ovechkin scored an assist.

But for the final 20-minute, Washington has no strength left.

No sooner had the hockey players returned to the ice, as Sean Couturier took Philadelphia ahead.

At the end of the meeting, Lawton scored a hat-trick.

In an attempt to escape, Laviolette removed the goalkeeper, but this did not help.

The couturier just hit the empty net and set the final score on the scoreboard.

Thus, “Washington” not only suffered a third defeat in a row, but also extended to five a series of matches in which the team conceded at least three goals.

Numerous injuries also do not add strength to the team.

For example, TJ Oshi, Yakub Vrana, Ilya Samsonov and Evgeny Kuznetsov missed the last match.

Not surprisingly, in the absence of three forwards at once, Laviolette complained of poor implementation.

“We haven't scored enough to win.

We didn't create enough chances to score, we had to score more.

Well, "Philadelphia" was helped by some rebounds and ricochets that played against us.

I don’t think that “Washington” has some kind of systemic crisis.

But the opponent was able to realize all his scoring chances, and we did not, ”the official website of the NHL quotes the coach as saying.

Ovechkin was recognized as the second star of the match.

In total, the Russian citizen in the current season now has 12 points for performance (5 + 7) in eight NHL games.