After losing a high-scoring match against the Toronto Maple Leafs “The Washington Capitals hockey players continued their long home game with the Carolina Hurricanes. Their head-to-head confrontation had a fundamental implication, if only because of their performance in the same Capital Division. However, today's game became special for another reason — Evgeny Kuznetsov played against his former club for the first time since the trade.
The Russian striker spent less than 11 seasons with Washington, brought the Capitals the first and so far only Stanley Cup in the history of the franchise, and scored more than 500 points, including regular season and playoff games. However, in the last couple of years, Evgeniy has faced a crisis, and this season he went through a waiver draft with a subsequent transfer to the AHL. The result of his relationship with the capital club was a separation and an unexpected exchange to Carolina. Kuznetsov quickly became part of the Hurricanes; in the first eight games for his new team, he scored 5 points (2 goals and 3 assists).
Today Kuznetsov returned to the US capital, but as a guest. In his honor, Washington prepared a touching video, and Capitals leader Alexander Ovechkin jokingly tripped up his compatriot in one of the episodes. A few years ago, Ovechkin, Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov lifted the Stanley Cup over their heads together, and now Alexander is playing against his old friends.
«»I'm glad for him. I'm glad that he got back on his feet. That was his main goal. Everyone would like to see a happy ending in which Kuznetsov would end his career with the Capitals. But sometimes not everything works out the way we wanted «It was important for him to start over and change the environment,» said Washington head coach Spencer Carbery on the eve of the match with Carolina.
The meeting in the US capital turned out to be eventful. The result was a victory for the home team in a shootout. During the match, young Washington forward Sonny Milano and Carolina leader Sebastian Aho scored a hat-trick on both sides.
As for Kuznetsov, Evgeniy was close to being effective, but was unsuccessful. In addition, the Russian unwittingly helped his opponents avoid a goal: with the score 2:1 in favor of the Hurricanes, Brent Burns scored with an accurate throw from a distance, but his goal shot was canceled due to the fact that Kuznetsov touched the Washington goalkeeper, driving in into his zone. The Russian's attempt in the shootout was also unsuccessful. Evgeniy opened the series with his signature slow-mo pass, but did not beat the goalkeeper.
If we talk about Ovechkin, then one of Kuznetsov’s main friends extended his scoring streak and scored two points, moving into clear 13th place in the list of top scorers in history in the NHL championships and leaving Joe Thornton behind. The Washington captain had a goal and an assist in the match against Carolina. Thanks to the scored puck, Ovechkin reduced the gap from Wayne Gretzky on the list of the best snipers in the history of the NHL championships to 48 goals and shot through the 175th goalkeeper in the league: Russian Petr Kochetkov became Alexander’s new “victim”. At the same time, in the shootout, the Carolina goalkeeper coped with the throw of the Washington captain.
Thanks to the victory, the Capitals scored an important two points and maintained a minimal gap from » Detroit Red Wings are in contention for a wild card to advance to the next round. “Carolina”, even after the defeat, is confidently among the leaders of the Eastern Conference and the Metropolitan Division.
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