The National Hockey League has taken great care to attract as much attention as possible to the next All-Star Game. The event took place last weekend in Toronto, where perhaps some of the most crazy hockey fans in the world live. Various celebrities were invited to participate in it, the most famous of which is the popular artist and singer Justin Bieber. The NHL also became confused about skill competitions: to increase their value and attractiveness, the league consulted with the best hockey player in the world, Connor McDavid. It is symbolic that it was the Canadian who won these competitions.
However, the star weekend itself did not have any wow effect. In this regard, the event was definitely inferior to last year’s NHL All-Star Game, where the main person was Alexander Ovechkin, who performed the already legendary shootout together with Sidney Crosby and his son Sergei. The Russian sniper refused to travel to Toronto. And this decision is justified: the 38-year-old leader of Washington clearly needed rest and the opportunity to reboot against the backdrop of an unsuccessful season.
Ovi preferred the hot sun of the United Arab Emirates and time with his family to having fun in Canada's largest city. True, not everyone understood Alexander’s choice. Washington fans rightly wondered why their idol went to distant Dubai, and not, for example, to Miami. Still, long flights from one continent to another and changing time zones in a short time do not bring much benefit. By the way, Ovechkin himself paid attention to this, but did not see a big problem in his trip:
«Of course, it's up to me what I need to improve in order to score pucks. However, sometimes you don't have 100 percent chances, but you still have to take them. And then when the first puck goes in, you feel much more comfortable and you feel better about your game. As for the trip to Dubai, I had a great time with my family and children. It was pretty cool. I had a good rest, despite the rather long flight, it was worth it.»
Before the All-Star break, Ovechkin had already updated his goal tally with a hit against the Dallas Stars. The Russian's pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's record could be expected to continue in today's match with the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are one of Ovi's favorite opponents. Before the next meeting with the most titled club in NHL history, Alexander was noted for his effective actions in the last eight games with the Canadians; his streak started back in November 2019.
The Capitals' leader lived up to his expectations and once again upset Montreal. As expected — naked. Many are so accustomed to seeing Alexander in the area of the left throw-in circle that now they don’t even expect to spot the Russian from the other side. This is exactly where the Habs got caught, leaving Ovi completely alone and almost completely opening the gates for him. Ovechkin does not forgive such mistakes. The leading scorer of the century finally reached the ten-goal mark for the season, and also closed the gap on Gretzky by another goal. 62 goals to go before breaking the record.
“I think my goal was kind of a wake-up call for all of us. We made smart decisions and played in the zone most of the time, but we just didn’t score,” Ovechkin was quoted as saying. NHL official website.
But this is where the supply of reasons for joy among Washington fans has dried up.
Even on the eve of the match, very sad news arrived from the Capitals camp: Evgeny Kuznetsov temporarily left the club due to his participation in the NHL player assistance program. It is unknown exactly what difficulties the Russian faced. Even the capital's head coach, Spencer Carbery, doesn't have the details of what happened.
«»He is participating in the program, and that's all we know. They are not sharing information with us. In this situation, we must provide support to Evgeniy and his family so that he gets the help he needs. We talked about this as a team. There is little I can do «There's nothing to share other than the fact that something is going on with our teammate, our brother, our family member. And so a lot of people are worried about him and his family, that's where a lot of the conversations and thoughts have come from,» the Caps coach said. .
The match itself was sad for Washington. Its results could be summed up after the first period, in which the Capitals “burned out” on their court with a score of 0:3, conceding three goals in less than seven minutes, after which goalkeeper Charlie Lindgren ended the game early. Subsequently, the Capitals made efforts for a comeback and were even able to pin the opponent to the goal, unleashing a hail of shots on Canadian goalkeeper Sam Montembeault (of which six were scored by Ovechkin), but in vain. Only towards the end of the match was Rasmus Sandin able to push the second puck into the Montreal goal, but the Habs responded in the form of a double from the 1st pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, Juraj Slafkowski, who was gradually getting out of the crisis.
Five missed goals in in total, five defeats in a row — with these results, Washington resumes the NHL season. The gap from the playoff zone is becoming more and more noticeable. Ovechkin and Co. risk spending a second year in a row without participating in the Stanley Cup.
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