Even before the start of the next National Hockey League season » The Washington Capitals were one of those clubs whose prospects of participating in the Stanley Cup were extremely doubtful. As the championship progressed, this opinion only gained argument after argument in its favor: an unstable roster, low performance and poor execution of key game moments, the sale of club leaders and the lack of a full-fledged replacement for them. Towards the middle of the season, the Capitals dropped quite low in the standings and for a long time were neighbors with their brothers in misfortune, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, the “capital” unexpectedly managed to rush upward despite all the problems. Since the resumption of the regular season after the break for the All-Star Game, in which only Tom Wilson took part from Washington, the Caps have won 11 victories in 20 matches, and the club’s permanent leader Alexander Ovechkin, thanks to his vacation in Dubai, has been transformed during the same segment scored 21 points (12 goals and 9 assists). Other Capitals players have also revealed themselves: Alexander Alekseev and Ivan Miroshnichenko have finally settled into the lineup, scoring their first points in the NHL, Hendrix Lapierre is proving to be a great sniper, Alexey Protas and Sonny Milano are beginning to have an increasingly positive influence on the game and the results. Wild card opponents also helped Washington: the Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders continue to stumble, picking up defeat after defeat and opening the way for their competitors to the playoffs.
In this regard, today's victory over the Calgary Flames turned out to be very important for the capital. For the first time in months, Spencer Carbury's team is back in the playoff picture. Now Washington is one of the top 8 teams in the Eastern Conference and ranks second in the wild card table. Detroit is one point behind the Caps, and the Islanders are two.
Alexander Ovechkin had a hand in winning the meeting with the Flames. Who, if not him?
The Russian captain of “Washington” scored a double today. Ovi scored both goals in the middle of the second period, both while converting the numerical majority. First, Alexander completed an excellent pass from Max Pacioretty, and then demonstrated his signature one-timer from the left face-off circle.
Thanks to these two goals, Ovechkin first reached and then overcame the 20-goal mark in the current regular season. For Alexander, this season was already the 19th in the NHL with 20 goals. The Russian has not played a single regular season in his career, scoring fewer goals. The Washington captain moved into third place in NHL history with 20-goal seasons, tied with Brendan Shanahan, Dave Andreychuk and Jaromir Jagr. The league record belongs to Gordie Howe (22 seasons), followed by Ron Francis (20). Ovechkin also became the third in NHL history to score 20 goals in 19 consecutive regular seasons. Previously, Gordie Howe and Brendan Shanahan achieved this achievement.
At the same time, Ovi found another victim in North America. 22-year-old American goalkeeper “Calgary” Dustin Wolf missed the leader of the “Caps” for the first time in his career. Now Wohl is the 174th goalkeeper Alexander has scored against. Ahead of the Russian in this indicator is only Jagr, who has scored against 178 different goalies in his career, and Patrick Marleau (177).
Finally, Alexander Ovechkin has taken two more steps towards absolute greatness. Ovi now has 843 career goals in NHL championships. Wayne Gretzky's sniper record is 51 goals away from being equaled by 50. The great chase continues.