Alexander Ovechkin never ceases to please the fans with his amazing game.
This time the victim of the captain of "Washington" and his team was "Tampa Bay", the gates of which are defended by the striker's partner in the national team Andrey Vasilevsky.
The confrontation turned out to be bright and memorable.
The Capitals players approached the Lightning matchup in a not-so-good frame of mind.
Two home meetings with the “Carolina” and “Minnesota” ended in defeat.
The Capitals conceded 11 goals, managing to score only twice, and Ovechkin scored one assist.
“Washington” is not the first time this season is in a similar situation.
At the same time, after several unsuccessful matches, Peter Laviolette's wards, as if having rebooted, usually give out a series of victories.
This happened in the game with Tampa.
The hosts were charged to win and immediately rushed forward.
By the ninth minute, the Capitals, with the efforts of Martin Fegervara and John Carlson, scored two goals into the opponent's goal.
"Lightning" woke up closer to the middle of the first period.
Returned the intrigue in the match Nikita Kucherov, scoring in the third meeting in a row.
The Russian got the puck from Victor Hedman and confidently beat Ilya Samsonov.
In this episode, the goalkeeper was unable to save the team, but a few minutes later the face-to-face duel with his compatriot ended in favor of the Washington goalkeeper.
He performed a small miracle by deflecting a striker's shot with his stick.
And a little later it was time for Ovechkin to show his skills.
Together with his teammates, he ran into a counterattack and tried to make a pass to Evgeny Kuznetsov.
However, after a series of rebounds, the puck returned to Alexander.
Then the Russian decided to take matters into his own hands and sent the projectile under the crossbar.
This goal was for the captain of the Capitals 43rd of the season and 773rd in his career - the gap on Gordie Howe was reduced to 28 goals.
In the sniper race of the season, Ovechkin continues to go in fourth place, lagging behind Toronto forward Auston Matthews by 11 accurate shots.
In addition, with this throw, Ovechkin scored the 1400th point in his NHL career and became only the 21st hockey player in history to reach this mark.
At the same time, Alexander was the first Russian who managed to reach this bar.
And at the end of the second period, he overcame it by participating in the next Washington attack.
The captain of the "capital" from a distance sent the puck into Vasilevsky's goal, but he coped with the blow.
The projectile picked up TJ Oshi and made a pass to Carlson.
For the second time in a row, the Tampa goalkeeper could not save his team.
However, the defense of the Capitals also acted imperfectly: in addition to Kucherov, Nick Paul and Ross Colton managed to beat Samsonov.
However, the advantage on the ice remained with the hosts, who were able to keep the victory, despite the final assault of the opponent.
The final score is 4:3.
Commenting on the performance of the team, one of the heroes of the meeting, Evgeny Kuznetsov, who chalked up two assists, noted that the fans should like this game.
“We had a good match.
These are two very important points for us.
Sometimes we played pretty well on defense, sometimes not, but in the end we helped each other a lot today, so this match was interesting to watch and participate in, ”the official NHL website quoted the Russian as saying.
Hockey players "Tampa" were frankly disappointed with the result.
The Lightning lost their third game in a row.
However, forward Steven Stamkos is sure that the team will be able to cope with the black stripe.
“It feels like any mistake ended for us with a puck in the net, so it’s hard not to get upset.
We just need to keep working.
We have many experienced leaders on our team.
We know we can get through this,” the Canadian said.
Ovechkin, recognized as the second star of the match with Tampa, this time did not communicate with reporters.
However, as always, they talked a lot about him not only overseas, but also in Russia.
After all, he had nine points left to pass Dale Haverchuk and reach a clean 20th place in the list of the best scorers in the history of the NHL.
The head coach of the national team Alexei Zhamnov, commenting on Alexander's new record, wished the striker good luck.
“It doesn’t surprise me that he has achieved yet another NHL milestone and broken the 1,400 points mark.
Sasha is doing well, he is fighting all this shadow politics, continuing to give results.
I'm just happy for him, like all our fans.
We will follow the further achievements of Ovechkin, his approach to the records of Howe and Gretzky.
Alexander Ovechkin is a legend of Russian hockey in the NHL.
God forbid that he breaks all the records, ”Zhamnov quotes the words “Championship”.
In turn, a member of the "triple golden club" Valery Kamensky found it difficult to say who else from the Russians in the future is able to reach the mark of 1400 points.
"Excellent result.
Few people who have earned so many points.
I would like to congratulate Alexander and wish him further victories and success.
Which of the Russians has the potential to reach such figures?
We have young promising guys.
But it's hard to say.
Hockey is a contact game, injuries,” said Kamensky.