If the National Hockey League (NHL) existed in a matrix, the Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers would be its true elements. What could these two teams have in common? It seems like nothing, but it's not. Both clubs are clearly represented by the main figures of the entire hockey world: the Capitals have Alexander Ovechkin, the Oilers have Connor McDavid. Both clubs, to some extent, because of them and the high costs of these stars, cannot build a full-fledged team to fight for the championship. Both are looking for happiness with new coaches. True, if Washington appointed a new team coach back in May, then Edmonton decided to make changes in the coaching staff during the current season.
The fundamental difference between the clubs so far lies only in their results. They are proportional to what is expected. Everyone has already buried Washington along with their chances of fighting for a place in the playoffs, while the Capitals, meanwhile, are chasing the leaders of the Eastern Conference and are among the first teams in their division. “Edmonton,” with all its problems, was supposed to be somewhere at the top of the table, but the “Oilers” failed the first month of the championship and were stuck at the bottom among the main losers of the regular season. It was all the more interesting to watch their first head-to-head meeting since December 2022 and guess whether the Caps would extend their winning streak and how many goals Ovechkin and McDavid would score. It's funny, but nothing happened from this.
“Edmonton” came to visit “Washington”, but behaved like a master on the ice at Capital One Arena from the very opening face-off, in which Connor McDavid and Evgeniy Kuznetsov collided head-on. The Oilers quickly seized the game advantage and began to shoot at the Caps goal. The capital's goalkeeper Charlie Lindgren only lasted 14 minutes, after which two goals hit the net within a minute of each other. And Lindgren still showed himself well, because in addition to this, he stopped another 19 shots in the first period.
But even with such results, it seemed that nothing was lost for Washington yet, because Edmonton this season often starts matches with two or three goals, and then still loses. But not today. In the second period, the guests shot at the opponent’s goal only nine times, but scored three more goals. Moreover, all three are in the majority game. Washington fans believed that the judges were very loyal to the players of the Canadian club and often forgave them, while at the same time sending off the capital players for any sneeze. Like, for example, John Carlson. However, the Oilers still had more penalty minutes — 10:8.
5:0 by the 39th minute of the meeting — even the current Edmonton did not miss such a handicap. The Oilers not only did not lose this head start, but also took away a “dry”, major victory from the US capital. Although Connor McDavid didn’t score, he scored an assist. The Canadian genius and the best hockey player in the world scored in the last three matches in a row, scoring a total of 7 points (2+5). He is gradually approaching the top scorers of the season.
Washington star Alexander Ovechkin, although he did not show any effective actions, also gave informational leads one after another. At the end of the first period, the Russian received a two-minute penalty for hitting his opponent in the face with his stick. Vincent Dearnay was injured: the Canadian defender of Edmonton, an episode earlier, dodged a powerful force move by Ovi, and during the siren for the break he got into a verbal altercation with him. Alexander could not restrain himself and slapped the Canadian in the face. He very graphically depicted pain and thereby forced the judges to remove the second best sniper in NHL history.
It is interesting that Ovechkin suffered from the actions of the referees later. Already in the third period, with the score 0:5, Washington got the right to play on the power play, and Ovi scored a goal with his one-timer just two seconds after Evgeniy Kuznetsov won a throw-in in the opponent’s zone and passed to his compatriot. But Canadian linesman Jesse Marquis did not count the goal, pointing out a violation of the throw-in procedure by Kuznetsov.
Those who follow the situation in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) immediately remembered a similar episode from the recent match between Lokomotiv and SKA. The game took place on November 18 and took place in Yaroslavl. Then, a second before regular time, with the score 2:1 in favor of the army team, the “railwaymen” won a throw-in in the opponent’s zone and instantly hit the visitors’ goal, seemingly equalizing the score. But the linesman also pointed out a violation during the throw-in and did not count the goal, which provoked a loud scandal.
Ovechkin also suffered from his own partners. Washington goalkeeper Charlie Lindgren was in such a hurry to meet Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl that he ended up crashing into Ovi and knocking the captain to the ground. The 38-year-old Russian performed a spectacular somersault and, fortunately, avoided serious injury. At his age, such falls are undesirable. And Draisaitl, by the way, avoided contact with the goalkeeper. A few minutes later, the German scored a double, setting the final score of the match.
“»It's difficult to play against a team of this caliber, allowing them to have the puck throughout the match. When you give the puck to McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins — the three best hockey players on the planet, “then it’s very difficult to play,” Washington head coach Spencer Carbery summed up the meeting.
Yes. Perhaps the Capitals coach was unlucky to get hit by the rink of the world's main forwards who seemed to be in decline.
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