Even though the next NHL game day included only four matches, at least one of them attracted enormous attention from the public, including the Russian one. After all, on this day Evgeny Kuznetsov was supposed to take to the ice again at his hometown, Capital One Arena, but in the Carolina uniform to which he was traded a couple of weeks ago. And this meant two things at once. Firstly, the usual meeting promised to become super-principled and eventful. Secondly, the Washington staff, who had recently prepared a heart-warming tribute video about Dmitry Orlov, needed to get back to work.
Kuznetsov’s “former home” was received ambiguously. Already in the sixth second, Alexander Ovechkin carefully, as if by accident, tripped up his ex-partner and knocked him over onto the ice, causing him to laugh. And in the eighth minute, the same touching clip with the participation of the striker was shown in the arena. And the audience reacted to her, albeit not with stormy applause, but again making Eugene smile.
True, there were reasons for this. After all, by this moment, Carolina was already leading the score - the first of his goals was scored by Sebastian Aho, whose duel with Sonny Milano would be key that evening. Subsequently, both will score a hat-trick and will be recognized as the main stars of the confrontation, but the attention of domestic fans will be focused on other “heroes”. And Kuznetsov will not be among them. As earlier this season, during his stay in the capital the forward will openly become “sad” and will show virtually nothing during the 16 minutes and 21 seconds he spent on the ice. The only exceptions will be a couple of throws and three power moves.
Others will light the fire. In particular, Alexander Ovechkin and young Ivan Miroshnichenko, who for the first time in his overseas career will score two points in a match. Yes, in both cases he will be recorded in the protocol only as a second assistant, but this will not make his achievement any worse. After all, his timely passes will not only help Connor McMichael upset Petr Kochetkov for the sixth time, and help Washington take the lead six minutes before the end of the third period. But they will also give its captain the opportunity to take a step towards conquering Wayne Gretzky’s sniper record.
In the middle of the second period, Miroshnichenko came out in the special team of the majority and took part in a gorgeous multi-move combination that stunned the entire Carolina defense. During it, all five field hockey players of the home team managed to touch the puck in turn, and Ivan’s timely pass allowed Dylan Strome to bring Ovechkin into the shooting position. The Russian, who was on guard at the far post, completed the cross pass without any problems and scored the 846th goal of his career. Thanks to this, he closed the gap with the legendary Canadian (894) and at the same time overtook Joe Thornton, rising to “clean” 13th place in the list of the best scorers in NHL history (1540). He also hit the 175th goalkeeper in the league. According to this indicator, he is second only to Patrick Marleau (177) and Jaromir Jagr (178).
True, Ovechkin did not rest on this and nine minutes later scored again during the extra charge. True, this time he himself appeared in the role of a carrier of shells - together with Henrik Lapierre. John Carlson, who joined the attack, “clicked” with all his strength and caught Kochetkov by surprise, whose save percentage at the end of the confrontation was only 76%.
However, Washington still failed to gain the upper hand in regular time. Moreover, not only the aforementioned Aho and another Carolina rookie Jake Guentzel, who scored an assisted hat-trick, tried, but also Andrei Svechnikov. With the help of the former Pittsburgh forward, he allowed Seth Jarvis to make his mark in uneven lineups and continued to fight for a place in the top 5 most productive players on the Hurricanes. At the moment, he ranks sixth (17 + 29) and is only a point behind Teuvo Teräväinen (21 + 26). True, the Finn held 17 more meetings.
As a result, regular time ended with the score 6:6, and overtime did not reveal a winner, as a result of which everything was decided in a dramatic shootout. As it progressed, both the recognized master of his craft, Kuznetsov, and Svechnikov and Ovechkin were unable to realize their attempts. And the decisive shot was made by Strome, who added this achievement to his three assists.
In turn, another star domestic veteran also had an intensely competitive day. Unlike “Washington”, “Pittsburgh” was unable to create a sensation and deal with the star “Dallas” away, but spoiled the bloodshed. And largely thanks to the actions of Evgeni Malkin. He scored an assist and climbed to 38th place in the list of top NHL scorers (1282), ahead of ex-Detroit forward Alex Delvecchio.
Moreover, in both cases, Malkin’s passes were a sight to behold. Already in the third minute, he performed a spectacular slalom behind the goal and passed it to Michael Bunting without looking, and almost 50 minutes later he repeated this trick. True, he passed it not to the far post, but to the near post, where Rickard Rakell was already waiting. However, the Penguins didn't have enough to do more. Mike Sullivan's team lost 2:4 and remained in 13th place in the Eastern Conference table. The eighth place that gives the right to play in the playoffs is nine points away.
Unlike Pittsburgh, Colorado is already in full swing preparing to fight for the Stanley Cup, simultaneously warming up against outsiders. This time, Jared Bednar's team rolled through Columbus, defeating it with a score of 6:1. Nathan MacKinnon scored two (1 + 1) points, reducing the gap from Nikita Kucherov in the scorers race to three, and Valery Nichushkin scored the fourth goal after returning from a “mini-vacation”. And overall, he played more than impressively, finishing the match with a “+2” utility rating. What can be said about Alexander Georgiev, who reflected 23 of 24 shots on target.