Not the kind of hockey that Washington fans expected from their favorites in the away match against a team from the last place in the Western Conference. Hockey players “Arizona” lazily play out the remaining matches of the championship and dream of quickly forgetting the disastrous season. But even with a weak and unmotivated opponent, the Capitals suffered a lot.

The captain of “Washington” Alexander Ovechkin could not correct the situation either. Ovi did not have a single truly dangerous moment for the entire match, although teammates tried to play the Russian in any situation.

Pleasant memories from Arizona did not help the captain either – it was here that at the dawn of his career, back in 2006, he scored one of the most beautiful goals in history. But that’s in the past, and today Ovi and the Washingtons were suffering, not playing hockey.

The brightest moment in the confrontation “Washington” – “Arizona”

The history of the confrontation between “Washington” and “Arizona” is not rich, so it cannot boast of bright matches. And the most memorable moment in head-to-head meetings is still Ovechkin’s goal. What the press service of “Washington” reminded about before the match.

With his back to the goal, Ovi rolled a fantastic puck into the target in the fall. Interestingly, the Russian did it in front of Wayne Gretzky, who at that time was the head coach of Arizona. It is not known whether Gretzky then saw in Ovechkin a threat to his record, but he certainly admired the game of young Ovi.

“He is a phenomenal player and he has had a huge impact on the game. He’s nice to watch because he’s so good,” Gretzky said.

Even Ovechkin himself was impressed by his actions.

“The best goal I have ever scored,” Ovechkin said.

16 years have passed since then, and Ovechkin has turned from a young talent into the main star of the league. And recently, he broke the record for players over 36 for goals in a season, overtaking Teemu Selanne in this indicator – 48 goals in the 2006/07 season.

Photo: © REUTERS / Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Against a weak Arizona, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Ovi to continue his three-game 5-point streak and improve his scoring stats. But “Washington” unexpectedly had a boring match and suffered against the worst team in the league.

The fans are bored

The fans of the “capital” have only one excuse – “Washington” saves energy before the playoffs, so in an energy-saving mode he held a meeting that has no tournament value. But the spectators who were at the match, this is not easier.

At the same time, Washington opened the scoring already in the middle of the starting 20-minutes. The puck thrown by Connor Sheary embodies the entire match – after a series of random bounces, the hockey projectile ended up on the striker’s stick, and he threw it into an empty net.

Photo: © REUTERS / Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

But more “Washington” was not remembered by anything. Even Ovechkin’s favorite pastime – the game in the majority, did not benefit the capital club. Caps hockey players often made a sharpening pass to the captain instead of a shot on goal. The Arizona players quickly figured out the tactics of the opponent and began to close Ovechkin more tightly. On several occasions, the Caps’ play has even led to dangerous counterattacks by the Coyotes.

The second 20-minute period turned out to be even worse than the first – almost without dangerous moments and without abandoned pucks. And the only majority in this period, the Washington hockey players did not play, but as if they were participating in the game “who can give an assist to Ovi.” But the winner was never found, the Arizona hockey players closed Ovechkin’s office.

After a goalless period, the fans began to express their dissatisfaction with the entertainment of the match.

“I’m so bored,” writes ExplainingCaps. “By the way, this is the worst team in the league that you play with,” reminds JakeEtt

It seemed that in the end the teams would start playing at full strength and show beautiful hockey. This really happened, but, however, the impulse of the players ended by the middle of the third period. During this time, Evgeny Kuznetsov managed to give the audience a beautiful moment – in a solo passage he dealt with the defenders, rolled out one on one with the goalkeeper, but could not outplay the goalkeeper.

And in the remaining time, the teams calmed down again and played the game anywhere, but not at the gate. I was a little pleased with the ending – the Arizona hockey players carried out several dangerous attacks in the last minutes of the meeting and could even the score. “Washington” was saved by Vitek Vanechek, who was clearly happy with at least some work in this match.

Soon, the Arizona coaching staff made the decision to replace the goaltender with a sixth fielder, which led to an abandoned puck. It was not the “coyotes” who scored, but the players of “Washington” – John Carlson became the author of the goal.

As a result, “Washington” won against “Arizona” – 2:0. The fans of the “capital” from this victory is unlikely to cheer up, because this is not how a team that claims to win the cup should play against an outsider. Yes, and the captain was left without points, interrupting the streak, which also does not add a positive attitude before the knockout games. But if Washington really saves energy before the playoffs, and there it already shows itself, then the fans will forgive everything.