Scorers duel: how Ovechkin scored the 785th goal in the NHL, and Svechnikov scored a goal and converted the winning bullet

The confrontation between Alexander Ovechkin and Andrey Svechnikov became especially principled in the spring of 2019.

Then the third match of the series of the first round of the Stanley Cup was remembered by the fight of the Russians.

The young Carolina striker, who at that time was barely 19 years old, was not afraid to challenge an experienced compatriot, but after missing a couple of strong blows, he was knocked out and could not continue the game.

But this further angered his partners.

After two losses in a row, they scored a major victory and eventually made it to the conference semi-finals.

Fortunately, after that, the forwards competed only in performance.

The start of the season was left to the native of Barnaul, who by the time of the face-to-face meeting had scored seven times and was fighting for the title of the best sniper, while the competitor was only four.

It is gratifying that both managed to score on Tuesday.

The first period completely remained with the Hurricanes, who owned an overwhelming advantage and threw the opponent more than twice (11:5).

Only the incredible rescues of Darcy Kemper kept the Washingtons in the game.

However, he could not help out when Stefan Noesen competently put the stick on the penny after Brent Burns clicked almost from the blue line.

The absence of injured T.J. Oshie and John Carlson also negatively affected the actions of the guests.

However, after the break, they managed to turn the match in the opposite direction, and a lot of the credit for this belongs to Ovechkin.

A quick goal by Dylan Strome also helped.

He took advantage of the fact that the defender failed to knock the puck off the penny and sent it into the net.

The inspired wards of Peter Laviolette went ahead and soon earned the majority.

Ovechkin forced Brett Pesce to break the rules on himself and punished the owners for being rude.

After receiving the transfer from Eric Gustafsson, he calmly delivered a shot from the branded point in the "office" right into the near corner.

Evgeny Kuznetsov also took part in the combination, who gave the sixth productive pass in the regular season.

Each No. 8 goal brings him closer to a whole range of achievements, and this one was no exception.

Most importantly, the veteran with 785 goals reduced the gap to 16 in the NHL's all-time leading scorers list from Gordie Howe and to 109 from the leader Wayne Gretzky.

And only one separates him from Howe's record for the number of goals for a single club.

He scored 786 times with Detroit.

And before Gretzky reaches the number of accurate shots on the road (402), only three are missing.

Svechnikov did not want to lag behind the eminent compatriot and shortly before the end of the second 20-minute equalized.

Andrey waited for his chance at the far post and after another rescue of Kemper sent the puck into the goal from close range.

This helped him reach second place in the tournament's scoring race, which he shares with Gabriel Vilardi of the Los Angeles Kings.

Only Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers), who upset opponents nine times, is ahead of them.

In the final period, “Carolina” did everything to snatch a victory and not bring things to overtime, but again the goalkeeper of “Washington” acted beyond praise, making a total of 33 saves.

Guests sometimes responded with dangerous counterattacks, and Ovechkin was remembered for a couple of dangerous passes that he failed to complete with an accurate click.

In overtime, Kemper continued to bail out partners.

Moreover, due to a foul by Lars Eller, the Capitals remained in the minority, but miraculously survived.

As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided in a shootout, where everything again came down to the rivalry between Svechnikov and Ovechkin.

And in this component, the younger Andrey took over.

He took advantage of the opportunity perfectly, rolling in a wide arc to the right circle and landing an accurate shot into the distance.

Alexander acted in a similar manner, but much more ingenuously and failed to upset Frederick Andersen.

But Kuznetsov managed to do it.

Forward deliberately slowly moved to someone else's goal, but still managed to outwit the Dane with a neat click into the far corner.

However, Eugene turned out to be the only Washington hockey player who realized his attempt.

The opponent also scored Burns.

But it was Svechnikov who scored the winning bullet.

As a bonus, he was recognized as the third star of the day in the NHL.

Only Buffalo forward Teige Thompson and Los Angeles Kings forward Karl Grundström were ahead.