Ovechkin suffered his worst streak in the NHL! This only happened once in his career.
Elena Kuznetsova December 11, 2023, 06:38 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
Washington’s captain hasn’t scored in 10 straight games, but his team still beat Chicago and returned to the playoff zone.
“Washington” after a brilliant victory over the “Rangers” went on the road, which began with a match with “Chicago”. Last year, when the Capitals played at the United Center, Alexander Ovechkin scored recklessly: he scored a hat-trick, scored 800 NHL goals and raced toward Wayne Gretzky’s record with 20 goals in 31 games.
This season not everything is so rosy. Ovi, a nine-time winner of the Maurice Richard Trophy, endured the worst stretch of his NHL career by failing to score for the 10th straight game. Until today, this has happened only once in his career, in the 2016/2017 season.
However, the “capital” faced the “hawks” without Ovechkin’s goals, but with his assistance. Chicago opened the scoring in the second period by blocking a tired first line in its own zone, and Seth Jones found Philip Kurashev in the pocket, sending a pass past Ovechkin and Van Riemsdyk. The Swiss only had to correct the puck and put it in the empty goal.
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Washington, however, quickly leveled the situation with the efforts of the second line: Anthony Mantha escaped the clutches of two opponents, received a passing pass and awkwardly beat Arvid Söderblom.
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Shortly after, TJ Oshie took the puck away from Alex Vlasik with a powerful hit behind the goal, and Washington made a quick comeback that was completed by Dylan Strome. The Canadian, who currently centers the first line, is currently the team’s top scorer with 11 goals. Ovechkin tallied the 11th assist.
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Next, fourth-line forward Nick Dowd became an unlikely hero for Washington. He scored a brace, late in the second period and then late in the third, doubling his goal tally this season in one fell swoop (and was ultimately named the game’s first star).
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The final score was set by Connor Murphy, and Washington won 4-2 and returned to the playoff zone. Surprisingly, with the obvious problems in Ovechkin’s game, the capital’s players are winning enough to remain competitive, while everyone is willing to write them off. In the last three games they scored four goals consistently: “We are gaining confidence in the attack plan, different players, different lines score. Chemistry appears. At the beginning of the game we didn’t look very good, it was normal, but it seemed like it wasn’t easy for us. But then our mental strength started to show,” Spencer Carbery said after the game.
It’s also interesting that this season the Caps lead in wins in games where they were behind (nine games) and in games where they were outshot (10 games, Chicago outscored Washington 34-27).
