In the last match against Winnipeg (1:5), Washington’s impressive streak was interrupted – the team scored points in nine meetings. Despite their consistent results, the Capitals have lost their lead in the East to the Islanders and Carolina, which currently leads the conference. Spencer Carbery’s team will play their next game away against Minnesota.

The focus on the ice at the Grand Casino Arena will be the duel of outstanding Russian hockey players – Alexander Ovechkin and Kirill Kaprizov. Ovechkin is the absolute record holder for goals scored in the NHL regular season, and Kaprizov recently rose to second place in the number of goals scored in Wild history. So we should expect a goal shootout from them.

When the “savages” did not have a star of Kirill’s level, the team had great difficulty coping with Ovechkin. In one of these meetings, Alexander almost single-handedly dealt with his opponent.

Ovechkin’s best match in three years

It’s hard to believe, but even the Washington captain had fairly long stretches without a hat-trick. Before the match with Minnesota, which took place on February 11, 2016, the Russian had not scored three goals in a game for almost three years. And after the first period ended 0-0, it was hard to believe that Alexander would achieve this sniper feat.

However, after the break, it was Ovechkin who opened the scoring. After a tricky diagonal pass from TJ Oshie, the captain of the capital club tried to complete the attack with one touch, and although the shot didn’t really work out, the puck went between Devan Dubnyk’s pads and ended up in the net – 1:0. It took the Russian forward a little more than three minutes to score a double.

This time, defender John Carlson tested the strength of the front board with a powerful flick, and Alexander reacted with lightning speed to the rebound and hit the empty corner. Everything happened so quickly that Dubnyk did not have time to react and press against the post. Ovechkin was close to a natural hat-trick, but this achievement was deprived of him by Charlie Coyle, who reduced the gap to a minimum in the middle of the period.

True, the Russian leader of Washington still scored another goal against Minnesota. At the same time, he managed to score before the break: the striker won the fight on the spot against several opponents at once and from close range again spoiled the Wild goalkeeper’s statistics. This was Ovechkin’s first hat-trick since December 10, 2013!

As Ovechkin admitted, the reason for the sniper surge was parents.

“In fact, my parents called me and said: “It’s time for you to score a hat-trick.” It’s a nice feeling! Of course, when you score the second goal, it’s cool, but when you score three goals in one game, it’s something special,” Ovechkin said.

Alexander spent almost 12 minutes on three goals. In the final period, Ryan Suter converted the majority and reduced the gap to a minimum. Just when the Wild players believed in a comeback, Jason Chimera slightly cooled the opponents’ ardor. Mikael Granlund, of course, hit Braden Holtby’s goal, but did it too late – four seconds before the siren. In the end, thanks to Ovechkin’s hat-trick, Washington won 4:3.