Posted21 avril 2022, 10:26
Author of two goals in Las Vegas, the Russian from Washington has joined two legends at the top of the NHL rankings.
Alex Ovechkin is a scoring machine.
AFP
Alexander Ovechkin (36) has joined two legends in the NHL championship ledger. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the Washington Capitals left winger lit the lamp twice at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights won in overtime once morest the Capitals (4-3).
The Russian made it 1-2 in the 23rd minute and 3-3 in the 54th minute.
While the American capital club still has five games to play before the end of the 2021-2022 regular season and has already validated its ticket to the playoffs, Ovechkin has reached the 50-goal plateau since the start of the season. exercise. He did so for the ninth time in the North American professional league, the league in which the first pick in the 2004 draft has been skating since 2005.
Before him, only two players had achieved such a feat: Ontario center Wayne Gretzky between the years 1979 and 1999 spent in the jerseys of the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers. And Quebec right winger Mike Bossy, who died last Friday of lung cancer, between 1977 and 1987 with the New York Islanders.
“50 goals once more, that’s an incredible performance,” said Peter Laviolette, Washington’s head coach. To be able to accomplish that at this time in his career, at this time as well, is pretty special.”
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Ovechkin has indeed been regularly criticized for his relations with Vladimir Putin. The photo on his Instagram profile shows him with the President of Russia.
On his Instagram profile, Ovechkin poses with Putin.
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On the ice, he didn’t slow down. With 780 goals in 1,272 regular season games, he ranks third among the league’s top scorers behind Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801).
The question now is whether he can beat Gretzky’s mark, long considered unattainable.
Ovechkin is just 114 goals shy of Gretzky’s record.
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In 2021-2022, Ovechkin, who had been crowned world champion in 2008 in Quebec and in 2009 in Bern, is the fourth skater to register his name at least 50 times in the column of directors. The others: Toronto Maple Leafs American center Auston Matthews (58), Edmonton Oilers German center Leon Draisaitl (54) and New York Rangers American left winger Chris Kreider (50).
Switzerland’s top scorer is Timo Meier (25). The Appenzell right-winger has hit the target 33 times in 71 starts with the San Jose Sharks.
