After Alexander Ovechkin and Andrey Svechnikov arranged the main fight of the playoffs-2019, it seemed that every next meeting of two Russian forwards would take place at an increased level of explosiveness. But in October, when Washington and Carolina met in one of the first matches of the regular season, there was no continuation. The Hurricanes won 3-2, their Russian child prodigy gave two assists, and Ovi did not answer with points or fists.
Therefore, before the Saturday meeting of “Hurricanes” and “Stolichnye”, no one was counting on a massacre performed by Russian stars, heads were expected from them. Goals happened, but to begin with, Carolina took some serious steps to victory. In the middle of the first period, the hosts got a double numerical advantage and tore the three Washington players, and immediately after the break they took advantage of the fact that the opponent could not get into the game together with the starting throw-in – 8 seconds after it Warren Fogele shot the empty corner of Braden Holtby’s goal.
Nick Daoud answered for Washington, who didn’t share the puck with his partner at the 2 in 1 exit, but the Hurricanes very soon regained a comfortable advantage – Vogele and Dougie Hamilton also dashed off to Holtby’s goal a couple, Ovechkin tried to prevent them, but Alexander the Great could not cope with non-core responsibilities.
This was Ovi’s second “minus” for the evening – he urgently needed to edit his own statistics and try to raise a comeback team. The 8th issue was aware of the mission and coped with it, waiting for the majority. False swing of Dmitry Orlov, transmission and laser shot of the main Russian sniper in the history of the NHL. One of his last goals in this decade (and maybe the last one) Ovechkin scored as dozens of goals over the years. From 2010 to today, he has 436 goals, is it necessary to say that this is by far the best result in the league?
Immediately, the guests got another opportunity to play the superfluous, it would seem, here it is – an ideal chance to finally catch up with the opponent. But instead, “Washington” hockey players, including Ovechkin again, missed the attack on their goal and allowed Vogel to push the puck over the line – 4: 2.
The Capitals did not give up. In the second minute of the third period, when the Hurricanes were once again playing in a truncated squad, Evgeni Kuznetsov seeped between the three players of the hosts and rolled the puck between the shields of Peter Mrazek. Fans of “Washington” again received hope.
Unfortunately, the Hurricanes on Saturday evening were ruthless. A minute after a little after Kuznetsov’s goal, they again doubled their lead, and finally everything became clear at the moment when the “Washington” took off the goalkeeper and wanted to save this match with six of them. The Capitals attempted to disperse the attack Ovechkin, he was robbed by Svechnikov, who brought the puck into an empty frame.
6: 4 – after defeating a club from the US capital in the last Stanley Cup, Hurricanes beat him for the second time in the regular season. Well, the puck of Andrei Svechnikov became somewhat symbolic – at the end of the decade, he seemed to have taken the crown of the Russian ruler of the NHL from Alexander Ovechkin. In the next decade, in the best league in the world, they are ready to light new Russian stars – how quickly will Ovi want to completely give them a place?
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