The zeal of Kuzmenko and the miracle goals of Lyubushkin and Kaprizov: what surprised the Russians in the NHL on the day Ovechkin returned

Return of Ovechkin

Alexander Ovechkin played his first game for the Capitals after the death of his father.

The Russian striker returned to the team's location on Wednesday just a few hours after arrival.

He held the first training session since February 14 and said that he wants to return to the game as soon as possible and help the team cope with protracted difficulties.

The position of "Washington" during the absence of the captain, indeed, became much more complicated.

The Capitals extended their losing streak to five matches and left the playoff zone.

Teammates and coach Peter Laviolette looked forward to Ovechkin's return.

“He is our leader, our captain.

His return is very important.

Even the fact that he will be just next to the guys, I think, in itself will cause the spark that we need to get out of this rut, ”TJ Oshie said the day before.

In 2021, the American forward also lost his father.

He said that returning to the ice was a way for him to cope with experiences and start living again.

TJ emphasized that the team is always ready to lend a friendly shoulder in difficult situations, and expressed the hope that the support of partners will help Ovechkin as well.

The club decided to honor the memory of Mikhail Ovechkin in a very touching way.

The hockey players went to the match with Anaheim with special stickers on their helmets, where it was written “Papa Ovi”.

The fans did not stand aside, who enthusiastically greeted their idol during the presentation of the starting lineup.

The game itself has developed for the Great Eight not quite the way he would like, but this is not surprising after a long break.

The forward spent a little more than 21 minutes on the ice, made 5 shots on target and made 4 puck losses.

His utility factor in this match was "minus 2".

In one of the episodes, the Russian missed an excellent opportunity to hit the gate.

He came to the aid of Niklas Backström, who struggled on the patch, but failed to throw the goalkeeper.

As a result, the Capitals lost with a score of 2:4, and this is the sixth consecutive defeat for the capital.

This has not happened to them since 2003.

Ovechkin noted after the match that he was just starting to feel for his game.

"Everything was fine.

You know, it's good that I'm back.

I feel like the game is getting better with every shift.

But the next match will be even better.

We still have a chance to get into the playoffs, ”the Russian emphasized.

He also thanked the management of the club and the team for their support.

“It was a tough time for me, my family and all my friends, but that's life.

The memory will remain forever, and we just need to move on.

We still have a chance to reach the playoffs," Alexander stressed.

Spectacular goals by Lyubushkin and Kaprizov

Ilya Lyubushkin unexpectedly became the protagonist of the Buffalo match with Tampa.

The teams, although they scored ten goals for two, could not identify the strongest in regular time, and in overtime the Russian defender created just a masterpiece goal.

He went on the ice as part of a special team, as the Sabers were in the minority, having received a penalty for throwing the puck at the end of the third period.

Ilya had to actively act against the leader and captain of the Lightning, Stephen Stamkos, and in one of the episodes he simply robbed a hesitant striker.

Some experts saw a violation of the rules in Lyubushkin's actions, believing that he hooked the Canadian with a stick, in connection with which he lost his balance and fell onto the ice.

But the judges did not record the foul, while the Russian, meanwhile, single-handedly rushed to the goal of Andrei Vasilevsky and sent the puck into the net with a biting blow.

Surprisingly, this goal was the first for Lyubushkin in the game for Buffalo, in which he moved this season.

In total, the defenseman has only scored three goals in his NHL career so far — one for Arizona in 2020-21 and two for Toronto in 2021-22.

The hockey player said that when he picked up the puck, he only thought about getting to the opponent’s goal as soon as possible and making a throw before the defenders overtook him.

He also stressed that he was happy to bring victory to the team and was proud of his own achievement.

“If you look at my statistics, you will understand that I don’t score very much.

So it's always very cool.

I'm happy to score for Buffalo.

This is my team.

It's great to be in it, I just have incredible partners.

It's a pleasure to play with them," Ilya said.

Thanks to this goal, the Russian established a unique club achievement.

He became the only Buffalo player to score in the minority in overtime of a regular season game.

Prior to that, Jason Pominville performed this only during the playoffs - May 13, 2006 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals with Ottawa.

Minnesota striker Kirill Kaprizov also pleased with another beautiful goal, effectively converting two-on-one in the match with Columbus.

In the middle of the first period, the Russian received a transfer from a partner and moved towards the gate along the starboard side, while watching the oncoming partner Mats Tsukarello and the opponent's defender.

This, apparently, confused the goalkeeper of the Blue Jackets, who was expecting a pass from Kaprizov to the Norwegian.

So when the Novokuznetsk native instead threw at the goal without looking at them at all, the goalkeeper was powerless.

This puck, which helped the Wild win 2-0, was Kirill's 34th this season.

This is the best indicator among all the Russians in the league.

Alexander Ovechkin is two goals behind his compatriot.

Achievement Kuzmenko

Andrey Kuzmenko has gained incredible momentum in recent matches.

In the game with St. Louis, the Russian striker again, for the second time in a row, dragged his team into overtime, equalizing the score in the last seconds of normal time.

But if last time Vancouver failed to escape defeat in the game with Nashville, now Kuzmenko's efforts were not in vain.

In extra time, the outcome of the match was decided in his favor by his teammate Elias Pettersson.

The Russian meanwhile became only the fourth player in the history of the league, who managed to equalize the score in the last seconds in two matches in a row.

Before him, only the stars of the last century could boast of this - Sean McEchern, Mikko Makela and Phil Esposito.

In addition, Andriy has already scored four matches in a row.

In total, he has 51 (27 + 24) points in 57 matches, and in the ranking of the best Russian NHL snipers, he takes third place after Ovechkin and Kaprizov.