The regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL) is approaching end. The eyes of fans and experts are fixed not only on the grand Bombardy race with the participation of Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid, but also on the Eastern Conference, where a fierce battle is taking place for the last two spots in the playoffs.
There are seven contenders for the two remaining spots in the Stanley Cup. At least having at least theoretical chances. Among them is the Washington Capitals. Back in February, the Capitals didn’t even count on participating in the playoffs, but in March they had a strong period and, unexpectedly for everyone, returned to the race. However, in recent matches their prospects have been hit hard. Six defeats in a row, given the incredible density in the East table, could affect the Caps' results in the regular season.
Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Washington could not afford to extend the series of defeats. Especially in a battle with one of the main competitors – Detroit. A win over the Red Wings would put the Capitals back in the race and among the top 8 teams in the conference. Alexander Ovechkin and Co. achieved this victory not without difficulty. For her, all Caps fans are probably already starting to raise funds and sign petitions for the creation of a monument to Charlie Lindgren. The American goalkeeper stopped 42 out of 43 shots and did everything to leave Detroit with two crucial points. The Capitals now have 85 of them, thanks to which right now they are in the wild card zone.
In addition to the excellent game of the Washington goalkeeper, two episodes at the end of the second period, when the guests from the US capital scored two goals in a row. Dylan Strome and Alexander Ovechkin scored.
For Ovi, this goal became special for several reasons.
Firstly, the Russian goalscorer brought his total number of goals in the season to 30. Alexander reached this mark for the 18th time in his NHL championship career. Before the leader of Washington, in the entire history of the league, no one had scored 30 goals in one regular season so many times! The record previously held by Mike Gartner (17 30-goal seasons) has now officially been broken and belongs to Ovechkin. Until now, the 2020/21 season remains the only one in the Russian’s career in which he was unable to score 30 goals: in that championship he scored 24 goals in 45 matches.
Secondly, Ovechkin became the seventh player in history NHL players who reached the 30-goal mark in a season at age 38 or older. Previously, this achievement was achieved by Gordie Howe, Johnny Butsik, Martin San-Louis, Teemu Selanne, Brett Hull and Phil Esposito. Moreover, Gordie Howe achieved this three times, and Butsik – twice.
Thirdly, the Capitals leader came close to Jaromir Jagr's record for the number of winning goals. The famous Czech has 135 of them. Thanks to his goal in today's match, Ovechkin now has 129.
Finally, Ovi took another step towards the main NHL sniper record. There are 42 goals left before Wayne Gretzky's achievement is repeated.
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