Hockey
Ovechkin scored in his first match after injury. And he repeated Gretzky’s crazy record!
At the same time, the Capitals leader failed to protect the team from defeat.
Alexander Ovechkin, who was seriously injured in November, is preparing to return to the ice after a month and a half absence. It is possible that the Russian will take part in Washington’s next match against Toronto.
Everyone expects extravaganza from Alexander, but two years ago the forward’s return from injury could hardly be called triumphant.
Best in away goals
During his career, Ovechkin managed to avoid truly serious injuries. During his first 15 years in the NHL, he missed only 18 games, and in the future he almost never dropped out of the game for a long period of time. So in January 2023, a lower body injury received in a game with Arizona forced Alexander to take sick leave for only a couple of days: he missed the match with Vegas, but by the next meeting with Colorado he was in action.
The 2022/23 season was extremely difficult for the capital. According to the results of the regular season, the club failed to make it to the playoffs, but in January everyone on the team still believed that they were capable of this task. Ovechkin’s absence even in one game greatly demoralized his teammates, who in the match against Vegas (2:6) gave their worst game of the season.
— It was probably our worst game. “I can’t remember the last time we were so unmotivated,” noted Washington forward TJ Oshie.
The return of the captain was supposed to give strength to the Capitals players, but in the end it all turned out to be another defeat. Ovechkin’s team entered the game in Denver with Colorado in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. In such a situation, the leader of Washington could not afford to miss another meeting.
Ovechkin almost never left the court. One might think that after the injury he should have taken care of himself, but the captain missed hockey and spent 23 and a half minutes on the ice – the second best result on the team. Despite playing a lot, Ovi only made three shots. However, this was enough to score a goal. After the match, Ovechkin admitted that the injury still bothers him, but the tournament situation forced him to go on the ice.
In the game with the current Stanley Cup holder, Ovechkin was the best in his team, but this was still not enough to win. Before the third period, the hosts were leading with a score of 3:1; in the final third of the match, Ovechkin managed to reduce the gap to a minimum with his signature shot, but the “capital” team didn’t have enough for more that evening.
For Ovechkin, that goal was the 811th in his career and the 447th in away games. In this indicator, he caught up with Wayne Gretzky, whose great record for the total number of goals Alexander continues to chase to this day. Now Ovechkin already has 868 goals in the NHL – only 26 goals remain before the seemingly eternal achievement of the legendary Canadian. The main thing now is to avoid serious injuries, then the long-awaited record will not leave the Russian anywhere.
Source: Sportbox
I’m a sports enthusiast and journalist who has worked in the news industry for over 8 years. I currently work as an author at Sportish and my work focuses mainly on sports news.