A scattering of achievements: Miroshnichenko distinguished himself in the NHL for the first time, Ovechkin scored his 840th goal, and Voronkov caught up with Bédard

Goals by Ovechkin and Miroshnichenko

“Pittsburgh” and “Washington” are going through difficult times and are teetering on the verge of missing the upcoming NHL playoffs, but their head-to-head meetings still arouse keen interest among hockey fans.

Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby squared off for the 68th time since both made their league debuts in the 2005-06 season.

Adding to the intrigue was the fact that Evgeni Malkin, who had been silent for a long time, distinguished himself in two previous games in a row and was one step away from getting into the top 50 best snipers of all time.

But the Penguins veteran failed to extend the streak: the Capitals simply destroyed the opponent on his court.

Already at the end of the second minute of the match, Tom Wilson opened the scoring, and, what is even more offensive for the hosts, when playing in the minority.

In general, both teams spent the first period quite actively and between them made 30 shots on target (16 for Washington and 14 for Pittsburgh), but the Canadian’s goal remained the only one before the break.

But in the next segment of the game, the guests impressed with their excellent execution of chances, scoring four goals in eight attempts.

And this scoring extravaganza was started by Ovechkin, who converted the majority.

In this play, the captain of the capital first waited for a chance in his office, but then moved to the spot and was the first to finish.

For the Russian, this goal was the 18th of the season and the 840th of his NHL career, and the gap from Wayne Gretzky in the race of the best snipers of all time was reduced to 54 goals.

Alexander also took part in the fourth scoring episode.

He fought behind Tristan Gerry's goal, saved the puck for his teammates, and Hendrix Lapierre brought the matter to its logical conclusion.

Thanks to this assist, Ovechkin's career total was 1,532, and he moved into clear 15th place on the NHL scoring list, ahead of Paul Coffey.

Immediately after this goal, the Canadian goalkeeper of Pittsburgh was replaced, but Alex Nedeljkovic also failed to keep his possessions intact.

The main hero of the second period was Ivan Miroshnichenko, who appeared on the court for the first time since December 28.

The 20-year-old Russian successfully opened up in the slot and, having received a pass from Dylan Strome, confidently dealt with the goalkeeper.

The goal was the first in the NHL for the forward, who beat Hodgkin's lymphoma last year.

The partners congratulated the young hockey player very warmly, and Ovechkin was especially happy for him, patting Ivan on the bench in a fatherly manner.

Overall, the Russian was very active throughout the game and was recognized as the third star.  

Washington put the final point in the match in the third twenty minutes: Sonny Milano scored the sixth unanswered goal from a pass from another Russian, Alexander Alekseev.

Charlie Lindgren stopped 39 shots on goal and scored a shutout.

Tarasenko's debut in Florida

Vladimir Tarasenko has finally found a new team.

The 32-year-old forward was traded from Ottawa to Florida, where he said he had a better chance of winning another Stanley Cup.

The Panthers have already solved the problem of reaching the playoffs - the team is in first place in the Eastern Conference, while the Senators are in the basement of the standings.

The Russian made his debut in a home match with Philadelphia, which ended in defeat for the Panthers.

Tarasenko was not effective in the game, although he spent 15 minutes on the ice.

However, this does not bother head coach Paul Maurice, who is still only looking for the optimal combination with his partners for the forward.

According to the specialist, Tarasenko is an extremely smart player who plays well positionally, and this is the quality his mentor counts on most.

Meanwhile, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 24 out of 26 shots in the reporting match. For him, this match became the 12th in a row, starting on January 24, when he allowed two or fewer goals.

This puts him equal to Martin Brodeur and Jacques Plante for the longest streak among goalkeepers aged 35 or older.

The success of Tarasov and Voronkov

Bobrovsky’s colleague from Columbus, Dmitry Tarasov, had a successful match.

He made 29 saves and was recognized as the first star of the meeting with Edmonton (4:2).

And the winning goal in this game was scored by his compatriot Dmitry Voronkov, and the 23-year-old striker created the scoring chance for himself.

He intercepted Warren Voegele's clumsy pass and, on clear ice, fired a targeted shot into the far corner of Calvin Picard's goal.

This was Dmitry's 17th goal of the season, which tied him with Rick Nash for third place in goals scored in his debut season with the Blue Jackets.

Only Pierre-Luc Dubois and Kirill Marchenko scored more in their time.

As for the newcomers of the current regular season, here too Voronkov is among the leaders along with Connor Bedard and Marco Russia (all have 17 goals) and claims to be the Calder Trophy.

But Tampa forward Nikita Kucherov, who for a long time led the season's scoring race, slowed down in the fight for this award.

The Russian forward has failed to score for four matches in a row and is three points behind his main rival Nathan MacKinnon.

However, Nikita did not remain completely without points in these matches either, making an assist in each.

In the game against Calgary, he scored an assist in the second period, but the Lightning lost 3:6.

Andrey Kuzmenko scored the pass for the Flames.

Kaprizov's 30th goal and Svechnikov's two points

Kirill Kaprizov helped Minnesota beat Arizona in the away match with a score of 5:2.

The first period turned out to be uneventful, and the score was opened only at the beginning of the second twenty minutes by the Russian.

The Wild found themselves in the majority and in the confusion the home defense lost Kaprizov at the right post.

When the puck ricocheted after Mats Zuccarello's shot, the Russian reacted with lightning speed and pushed the projectile past the goalkeeper stretched out on the ice.

For the 26-year-old striker, this goal was already the 30th this season.

Kirill reached this mark for the third year in a row, joining teammates Marian Gaborik and Brian Rolston, who have similar achievements. 

Carolina forward Andrei Svechnikov scored two points in the match with Montreal and helped his team win.

In the first period, the Russian assisted Brady Shea, and at the end of the meeting he scored himself and set the final score of the match (4:1).