MOSCOW, Jan 23 Ottawa Senators NHL Head Coach Dee Jay Smith, after losing to the Washington Capitals, noted that his team's players twice left Russian striker Alexander Ovechkin too much free space. The meeting of the NHL regular season ended in a 3-2 overtime victory for Washington in overtime. Ovechkin scored two goals in regulation time. «I give the opponent credit, but at the same time, we left Ovechkin open twice, and he does not miss such chances. Before the third period, you lead 2-0 and you know that they will press. We rolled back into our zone, we had to continue to attack, but in the end it was all over, mind you, after a long shift: Ovi always finds opportunities to score, ”the NHL official website quotes Smith. Ovechkin commented on his second goal. «I thought the puck hit the crossbar, so I tried to play until the whistle blew,» he said. The Russian was named the first star of the match. With 58 points, he leads the list of top scorers this season and is tied for first place in the list of top scorers with New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider, both hockey players have 29 goals. In total, during his career in the NHL regular championships, Ovechkin scored 759 goals, according to this indicator, he ranks fourth in the history of the league. Only Wayne Gretzky (894), Gordie Howe (801) and Jaromir Jagr (766) are ahead.
