In less than a day, 2024 will replace 2023- th, and the whole world will once again plunge into a sea of new expectations and hopes. For many, the New Year is an opportunity to leave all problems behind and open a new page in their lives with fresh thoughts and heads. Perhaps Alexander Ovechkin is thinking about this right now.
For the leader of the Washington Capitals, 2023 was probably perhaps the most difficult year in general. This applies to both the personal life of the famous hockey player and his sports career. There is no need to describe the details again. Everyone already knows what we are talking about.
On New Year's Eve, Washington faced the Nashville Predators in front of their fans and was close to giving them a nice gift in the form of a victory. He could become doubly wonderful because of Ovechkin’s personal success. In the current season of the National Hockey League, Alexander’s personal performance is not going very smoothly, but in the game with Nashville, the Russian added to his treasury of goals. Everything was done according to the classics: the famous left circle of throw-in, a powerful one-timer and a goal. Already the 829th in Ovi’s rich career! Thanks to this puck, the Washington captain is one step closer to Wayne Gretzky's great record. To repeat it, Alexander needs to take another 65 of the same steps.
Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky in itself is already one big story. But it is noteworthy that the goalkeepers of the opposing teams who miss the Russian sniper are also part of it. Today another goalkeeper, Yaroslav Askarov, “inscribed” his name in it. The Russian goalkeeper of the Predators marked his debut in the NHL a year ago, but has not yet been able to gain a foothold in the Predators’ lineup. Occasionally he gets a chance to prove himself. He did it in the game against the Capitals.
Yes, Yaroslav missed. And twice: first from Bek Malenstine, and then from Ovechkin. Unable to parry Alexander's powerful shot, Askarov became the 171st goalkeeper in NHL history to score against Washington's leader. It’s funny, by the way, that today Ovi’s victim was not only the Nashville goalkeeper, but also his teammate and compatriot Yakov Trenin. Shortly before Ovechkin's goal, the Russian forward of the Predators fell under a powerful power move from Alexander and was unable to stay on his feet.
And the formidable deeds of the Washington captain might not have ended there.
A minute before the end of regulation time, Ovechkin again hit Askarov's goal with the score 2:2. It seemed that here it was – a strong-willed victory for the Caps and a resounding triumph for their Russian goalscorer, who was one more goal closer to Wayne Gretzky. However, the holiday in the US capital was overshadowed by the actions of the judges. Having accepted a request from the Nashville coaching staff, the North American referees watched a video replay of the episode with Ovi’s goal and decided to cancel it. The referees recorded an interference with the goalkeeper by Nik Dowd, which provoked a loud scandal. Washington, naturally, did not agree with this verdict, and some fans even started talking about a conspiracy theory against Ovechkin. Yes, many people remember the situation with Alexander’s canceled goal in the November match against the Edmonton Oilers.
“I would like this goal to be counted. In the league, when describing such situations, we were told that the contact with the goalkeeper should be obvious. Was Dowd’s contact with the Nashville goalkeeper enough? I don’t know. In my opinion, a goal should was upheld,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters.
As a result, the judges not only deprived Ovechkin of the 830th goal of his NHL career, but also deprived Washington of the victory. The game went into overtime, and then into a shootout, with which things were going very poorly for the capital. The winner of this duel was Yaroslav Askarov, who was recognized as the first star of the meeting. The Russian goalkeeper of “Nashville” did not allow either Ovechkin or shootout master Evgeny Kuznetsov to score, while the “Predators” converted their two attempts and took two points from the US capital.
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