2023-10-26 06:43:27
Washington won its first victory in regulation time, losing the period with a score of 0:4.
Washington head coach Spencer Carbery and Alexander Ovechkin actually have a lot in common. Before the start of the season, all the experts understood that it would be difficult for both of them. But the fans were waiting for the result here and now, and therefore, after the team’s terrible start to the season, the Washington captain began to be called old, and his coach – not ready for the NHL.
But already in the match against New Jersey, both showed that it was too early to write them off. Washington played its best game under Carbery, and Ovechkin extended his goal streak to two games and angered the fans.
Journalists believe in Washington head coach
In five regular season meetings, Washington looked as bad as possible. The Capitals never took the lead or scored first. The Caps also shot the least in the league at 5-on-5. The majority did not work either: only one successful attempt out of 16.
Well describes the state of Washington and the last match against Toronto (1:4). In this meeting, the 38-year-old Ovechkin made more shots on target (14) than the Capitals’ keeper Darcy Camper managed to save (13). And after five matches, the capital’s team found themselves in 30th place in the overall NHL standings. Given all this, it would be fair to assume that the American club is in for a terrible season.
Spencer Carbery / Photo: © REUTERS / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
However, North American experts rushed to reassure Caps fans. Journalist Ian Oland suggested that Washington is still getting used to Carbery’s hockey, which is the complete opposite of Peter Laviolette’s system. In addition, all of Spencer’s teams took a long time to adapt to his ideas. For example, in his first year of work at the capital’s farm club, the team lost five times in the starting nine matches. By the middle of the season, the Hershey Bears were already a formidable force: they had a streak of 11 victories in a row and won 16 out of 17 meetings.
All Washington fans would like to believe in such a scenario. And the meeting against New Jersey inspires confidence that everything will be so.
Ovechkin scores and angers fans
Already in the opening period, the “capital” were able to pleasantly surprise: the guests not only scored first for the first time and took the lead, but also managed to completely crush the opponent, scoring three unanswered goals. First, Anthony Mantha scored from a pass from Alexei Protas, who scored his first point of the season. Ovechkin then acted as the game manager, throwing a penetrating pass to Dylan Strome, who easily finished the attack with a goal. And at the end of the period, Evgeny Kuznetsov assisted Sonny Milano, who consolidated the advantage.
It is obvious that now Washington is a team that is capable of allowing the opponent to overcome even such a gap. But hardly anyone could have predicted that after the best period of the season, the capital would play their worst 20 minutes.
After the first break, the Caps completely gave the game to the opponent, which the Devils took advantage of. In the second period, the hosts sent four goals in a row against Camper, and Jack Hughes did the most to make a comeback, giving three assists. Thus, Hughes became only the 10th player in NHL history to score 17 points in the first six games of the regular season. The last time Mario Lemieux did this was in 1995.
However, Washington returned for the third period and played the opening 20 minutes. The Capitals again stifled the opponent with their active actions and almost doubled the turnover of the Devils. But the main thing is that the Caps were able to convert their dangerous moments into goals.
First, Carbury’s team converted the majority: Kuznetsov burst into the zone and passed the ball in front of the goal to Strome, who scored a double. And just two minutes later, Connor McMichael again put Washington ahead. Moreover, after a shift, the guests again sent the puck into the net, but this time the referees did not count the goal due to offside. True, the referees’ decision did not affect both teams in any way: the hosts still looked like a team that was preparing to give two points to the opponent.
At the end of the meeting, the “devils” changed the goalkeeper to the sixth fielder in the hope of equalizing the score. But Washington held out and scored the sixth goal into an empty net. This point in the match was set by Ovechkin, who at speed robbed a defender in his zone, accelerated to half of the opponent’s court and calmly scored the second puck of the season. Thus, the Russian forward has 70 accurate shots left to catch Wayne Gretzky.
Alexander Ovechkin (left) with the team / Photo: © REUTERS / John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Although Ovechkin overcame a difficult start and scored in two games in a row, some fans are unhappy with the Washington captain using “junk” goals into an empty net.
— Ovechkin is going to break Gretzky’s record with shots on an empty goal. A sad sight, says lessthansober609.
But such outright haters are immediately corrected by other fans, who remind that the record for goals in this format still belongs to Gretzky (56). Ovechkin (55) needs to throw two more goals into an empty net to overtake the Canadian.
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