Ovechkin kept throwing it away
Columbus is generally an important club for Ovechkin. He played his first career NHL game in 2005 against the Blue Jackets. And he immediately achieves a double. With whom, if not with Columbus, should Alexander the Great now emerge from the crisis?
It was Washington’s penultimate game before Christmas. Sitting at the holiday table while there’s a break in the NHL schedule and that 15-game goalless streak looms over you like a sword of Damocles, you wouldn’t wish that on your enemy.
And so Ovechkin did everything to cheer himself up, as well as millions of his fans.
Alexander was incredibly focused on the goal. He shot seven times at goal in one go! And in total, according to statistics, Ovi made as many as 16 shot attempts. Somewhere there were blocks, somewhere they did not fit into the frame. Ovechkin was furious that night! But the puck, as if enchanted, did not want to enter the goal.
Towards the end of the first period, Ovi mostly shot from his desk. And he scored! It looked like it was the Washington captain’s puck. But it turned out that Anthony Mantha had corrected it on the spot.
In the second period, Cole Sillinger tied the game with a big shot. But soon, Mantha scored again, completing the Capitals’ radical combination. And when the match was already heading towards victory for Washington, in the middle of the third period, Yegor Chinakhov scored the second goal for Columbus. And it is here that the Russian Troika worked. Dmitry Voronkov competed for the puck near the boards and Chinakhov scored very impressively, crouching on his knee.
The drought has ended
And now – overtime. And there, Washington’s henchman, Tom Wilson, flew towards Elvis Merzlikins’ goal. Moreover, he pushed the Columbus goalkeeper, which is why the Latvian flew into a natural anger. You rarely see a goalie fight the big Wilson, who not even every tough guy will challenge. But then it happened.
“Tom Wilson harassed me the whole game,” Merzlikins would later say. “He hit the glove, tripped him and even tried to take his knee out. And when he flew into my net, he hit me with his fist as I tried to take the stick.
To be fair, Wilson has put himself in the shoes of the Columbus goaltender. And he made sure that in overtime, Elvis received a two-minute penalty for roughness. By the way, Washington head coach Spencer Carbery didn’t let Ovechkin do much overtime. But here he was forced to do so, in a 4-on-3 match.
…In general, there is a canonized goal of Alexander the Great, which he scored in his first season against Phoenix. Then Ovi scored from a prone position, making an incredible move with his stick. This moment was called The Goal.
And now a cult episode has also happened. Let’s call it drought. Ovechkin broke his record of 14 consecutive games without a goal when he fired a precise, well-aimed wrist shot on the power play, ultimately hitting the goal of an excited Merzlikins.
“The great wait is over!” » – shouted the commentator on the air.
Yes, a lot of people were waiting for Ovechkin to score this goal.
Ovechkin: “We have to take advantage of this moment”
This is puck number 828 in the career of Alexander the Great. Gretzky’s record is 66 goals.
“Long time no see,” Ovechkin told Monumental Sports Network correspondent Al Koken after the game. – Very good feelings. Happy victory.
Yes, today I had many moments where I shot in one touch. But the goalkeeper made some good saves. I should have lifted the puck a little higher. I’m going to make adjustments to my game.”
And Ovechkin also added something important: “You just have to score to get that feeling back. You just have to enjoy this moment.”
Imagine, the last time Washington’s captain scored was November 18. During this terrible series, Ovechkin:
And then it all ended. Ovechkin scored.
“I think everyone did a great job,” said Alexander the Great. “We all knew it was going to be a tough game for us. The Columbus team is young and has a lot of speed and talent. But we held on well and took two important points.
Let’s believe that we won’t have to wait another 15 games for Ovechkin’s next goal. There is still one game against Tampa, which will take place on December 23. And then – Christmas holidays.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
