Alexander Ovechkin is an incredibly phenomenal athlete. Unique. Outstanding. He is able to surprise even in situations where many have given up on him. Suffice it to recall many recent statements and opinions about the game of the Russian sniper. “Ovi is no longer the same, his time has passed, he is old, slow, no help to his team, he needs to be traded,” such comments have increased significantly over the last season.
There really were enough reasons for this. They are used to seeing the Russian among the leaders in the list of the best snipers of the championship, but he is not even in the top hundred. In one period, Ovechkin’s luck simply ran out. Those moments that he usually ends with goals have ceased to be so, their implementation has decreased significantly. But any series — even the most unsuccessful ones — tend to be interrupted. Now this moment has come.
Alexander once again made people talk about himself as a first-class sniper and a threat to all goalkeepers in the National Hockey League. All he had to do was take a slight break during the break for the All-Star Game, fly with his family to Dubai and take a momentary break from the constant bustle, when the Russian’s goals flew one after another. Branded one-timers from your personal office are not flying in? Alexander found other ways to the opponent's goal and began to score for every taste. First, the Dallas Stars suffered at the hands of Ovi, and then the Montreal Canadiens, Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins joined the group of “stars.” Four matches with goals scored in a row — this has not happened to Alexander since the end of last season.
Further more. Ovechkin continued to shoot at the opponents' goal. Just yesterday he visited Boston with Washington, and less than a day later, upon returning to the US capital, he upset the best NHL club of the season, the Vancouver Canucks. In North America, all sporting events have been moved earlier to focus on the Super Bowl in the evening, but what kind of Super Bowl is there when Ovechkin is rewriting history.
In the second period of the meeting with the Canucks, Alexander brought the Capitals ahead in a somewhat atypical way: he received the puck after a pass from his main companion for the season Dylan Strome, and then completed either a wrist shot or a pass to the far post in the direction of TJ Oshie . And Oshie would have realized this chance, but Vancouver forward Nils Oman got in his way. It was from his skate that the puck crawled into the goal.
Thanks to this gift, Ovechkin extended his goal streak to five games in a row — for the first time since March 2021 and the 13th time in his entire career in the NHL championship. Just think: Alexander is already more than 38 years old, and even at that age he manages to shoot in such series. In the history of the league, Ovi became only the fifth hockey player to achieve this at the age of 38 or older. Maybe now I should aim to repeat my personal best? In his debut season in the NHL, the Russian sniper scored goals in seven games in a row. Washington has meetings with the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens ahead. Why not? Ovechkin has gotten into impressive shape. He already has 16 points (7+9) in his last 15 games!
What about chasing Wayne Gretzky? A month or two ago, many doubted Ovi’s prospects of catching up with the legendary Canadian. But now there are only 59 goals between Gretzky and Ovechkin. The great Russian hockey player was written off early.