Turning point: Ovechkin scored his 839th NHL goal and broke one of Gretzky's records

Alexander Ovechkin's Washington won the most important victory in the NHL regular season over its direct competitor for getting into the playoffs, Philadelphia.

In the time remaining until the end of the tournament, the capital’s team has virtually no room for error so as not to end the season early, like last year.

However, the match with the Flyers started disappointingly for the home team.

Already at the end of the second minute, Bobby Brink upset Charlie Lindgren, and at the end of the first period, Owen Tippett converted the majority from a pass from Yegor Zamula.

For the Russian defender, this assist was the 12th of the season.

The Capitals had only five shots on target and generally looked bad.

According to Spencer Carbery, his players lacked pace and speed and had difficulty getting the puck back after a turnover.

The break came at a very opportune time, after which a completely different team took to the ice.

“In the first period we didn’t play at all, we didn’t show our game.

They created more chances, got us over and won the whole fight.

I think (in the second period. -

RT

) we started to act correctly, simplified the game, immediately set the rhythm and got the result,” the Washington captain noted after the meeting.

It was Ovechkin who became the player who laid the foundation for the turning point in the match.

After a throw-in in the left circle, he received the puck from Tom Wilson and fired his signature shot past Philadelphia goalkeeper Samuel Ersson.

Thus, the Russian broke his goal drought, which lasted four matches, scored the 839th goal of his career and reduced the gap with Wayne Gretzky in the race of the best snipers of all time to 55 accurate shots.

At the same time, he broke another of the many records of the Canadian legend, albeit not so significant.

After this match, Alexander had 145 goals scored in different years in March, and he reached this mark much faster than the Canadian.

The Russian needed 245 games for this, Gretzky - 260.

By the way, Ersson became the 173rd NHL goalkeeper who Ovechkin scored against in 19 seasons.

Only Patrick Marleau (177) and Jaromir Jagr (178) upset more different goalkeepers in their careers.

In addition, Alexander hit the Philadelphia goal for the 48th time, and this is one of his three favorite “clients” in the league.

He scored more only against Tampa (50) and Winnipeg (53).

But the main thing that Ovechkin did with this puck was to wake up his team, which seemed to realize that nothing was lost in this game yet.

“It was a very important goal.

Obviously, this pushed us, gave us a lot of incentive.

A great player scored a great goal, that’s why he is our leader.

I think after that we definitely followed his example,” Lindgren shared after the meeting.

Five minutes later, Washington tied the score thanks to the quickness of Sonny Milano in the backfield, and shortly before the second break, John Carlson put the hosts ahead.

The third period also passed under the dictation of “Washington”, and “Philadelphia” finally wilted.

According to the head coach of the guests, John Tortorella, his team could not come up with anything offensively in either the second or third periods of the game.

The mentor even threatened to sit some of the attackers on the bench following the results of this match.

The most striking episode involving visiting forward Garnet Hathaway in the final 20 minutes was his brawl with Wilson, in which Ovechkin also took part, trying to pull the enraged American away from his teammate.

And Washington scored twice more in the third period.

If the Capitals managed to win a strong-willed victory, losing 0:2, then Vladimir Tarasenko’s Ottawa was unable to withstand Arizona in a similar situation.

In the first period they conceded three times, but at the end of the game they managed to get one goal back thanks to the efforts of the Russian.

He received a pass from Jacob Chickran and took the shot while dropping to one knee.

In the second 20 minutes, Tarasenko also added an assist, assisting Shane Pinto.

However, having equalized the score, the Senators were unable to put the pressure on the enemy, instead conceding twice more.

After the game, the Russian striker complained about the disastrous start of the match.

He noted that the team needs to find a better way to start matches, since it is not always possible to make a comeback.

Meanwhile, talk continues that Tarasenko will not stay in Ottawa this spring.

According to media reports, the Russian may return to the Rangers, where he spent several months last year after being traded from St. Louis.

It is assumed that the transfer may take place shortly before the deadline.

The forward currently has 40 points (16 + 24) in 56 games for the Senators.