Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals for the second time this season

Alexander Ovechkin, transformed at the end of winter, played his best game in the current NHL regular season. In his Washington Capitals’ 6-2 home demolition of the New Jersey Devils, the standout Russian forward scored two goals and made one assist, moving one step closer to the league’s all-time leading scorer Wayne Gretzky.

Alexander Ovechkin said after this match that not two, but “four points” were at stake. And it was clear what he meant. This meeting had special value for both rivals. The fact is that Washington and New Jersey are, in fact, direct competitors. Both clubs play in the Metropolitan Division, both are located next door in the table and just outside the “play-off zone”, waging a desperate fight to get into the cup stage. So the significance of the head-to-head clash was extremely great.

And New Jersey players, such as Nico Hischier, were not even going to hide their negative emotions about what happened. Well, yes, the defeat, after which the Washingtonians got close to their opponents, within two points, and even with a match in reserve, was an unpleasant blow for them. And for Washington, which until recently seemed almost a hopeless club, it was, on the contrary, a success that inspires further exploits. True, it will be incredibly difficult to do them. Washington’s calendar in the coming weeks includes mostly top-of-the-table opponents. And they will have to fight without center forward Nick Dowd, who is apparently seriously injured, an important figure for the team.

And the greatest contribution to this defeat was made by Washington’s most famous hockey player. Ovechkin made all his effective actions in the final period, before which his team led by a minimal margin – 2:1. First, he made a pass, after which, showing stubbornness in the area, Dylan Strome sent the puck into the goal. Then, after the throw-in, he fired at the goal, believing that the crowd of players in front of them would interfere with goalkeeper Nico Dawes’ orientation, and he was right. Finally, already at the end of the match, Ovechkin completed the pass from Strome, who had played well with him, on the power play.

In general, three points and a double are formally so-so achievements by the standards of Alexander Ovechkin.

But this is if, let’s say, we take his entire magnificent career as a whole. For this season, such a performance was certainly an event.

38-year-old Ovechkin remained modest in this championship for a very long time. He went on long streaks without goals and scored points with difficulty. And so far he has had only one match with two goals – played back in mid-November against the New York Islanders.

Everything changed suddenly at the end of winter. Some amazing transformation happened to Alexander Ovechkin, and his efficiency returned. The meeting with New Jersey extended another series of Ovechkin – this time with a much more positive connotation than those during which it was customary to argue that with age he had completely lost his sniper instinct and luck. But here they are with him again.

Ovechkin has already scored at least a point in nine games in a row, and this hasn’t happened to him for four years.

And Alexander Ovechkin’s performance after this shock series already looks at least shameful – 41 points, 16 goals in 51 matches. Of course, you still can’t count on a high position in the scoring and sniper hierarchy of the season, but everyone who follows the NHL is interested in the situation in a much more prominent ranking. We’re talking about the pursuit of the league’s all-time leading scorer, Wayne Gretzky.

ESPN, summarizing the match between Washington and New Jersey, stated that its topic is “relevant again.” He recalled that a couple of months ago, at the peak of Alexander Ovechkin’s personal crisis, experts doubted that he would be able to overcome the distance to Gretzky of just over sixty goals. But now it certainly doesn’t seem that way. The distance has decreased to 56 goals (Ovechkin once easily scored that many goals in one championship), and the Russian’s new schedule hints that it will continue to shrink.

Alexey Dospehov