Sport Text size A A A

Ovechkin is not afraid of “blades”

Ovechkin's assist helped Washington beat Buffalo

Artem Kalinin “Washington” of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semyon Varlamov beat Buffalo away in the next match of the NHL regular season. Ovechkin scored an assist, and Varlamov stopped 28 shots on his own goal. The shootout, converted by Pavel Datsyuk in the post-match series, brought Detroit victory over Minnesota.

The next matches of the NHL regular season once again delighted Russian hockey fans. Thus, Alexander Ovechkin scored his 61st point of the season in a victorious match with Buffalo, and Pavel Datsyuk helped Detroit defeat Minnesota away.

The Washington Capitals, who are facing a meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the Stanley Cup, played in Buffalo with the local “blades” in the next match of the NHL regular season. Bruce Boudreau's team has been in a fever lately: the team is losing game after game, and the recent victory over Anaheim (7:6) is also unlikely to please the mentor. At the same time, not so many shots are made on goal by the capital’s hockey players. But Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth do not always help out. Another confirmation of this was the match with the Sabers.

The Capitals' striking force is in action: Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Jason Chimera and others tried their best. The captain was in his repertoire - Ovechkin had the most shots on goal. But they didn’t pose any difficulties for Ryan Miller . Buffalo's goalkeeper worked tirelessly, but he worked brilliantly. Varlamov had much less work to do, however, he also remained “dry” in the first period. The Russian was at least pitied by his teammates, but Miller had to withstand three Washington power plays.
<1>
All the more surprising is his mistake in the simplest situation, when at the beginning of the second period the guests opened the scoring.

Matt Hendricks threw the puck into the opponent's zone so intricately that Miller was confused, could not calculate its rebound and watched helplessly as Mathieu Perrault shot at his goal. However, the guests' lead was short-lived. The very first deletion in Washington turned out to be a disaster for the capital team. Brooks Laich, who managed to get the only penalty of the period, and even for attacking the goalkeeper, sat on the penalty bench for only half a minute, and then Jason Pominville shot through Varlamov. By the end of the second 20 minutes, half as many shots were made on the Russian’s goal as his counterpart had to fend off. And the score was equal.

Bruce Boudreau had some serious talk with his guys at halftime, but the conversation in the Buffalo locker room was no less in-depth. The Blades were more active at the beginning of the third period and could well have taken the lead. However, all the efforts of his partners were canceled out by Sean Morrison , who got himself sent off. The winning goal was scored by Marcus Johansson , and Ovechkin took part in the scoring combination, scoring his 61st point of the season. Alexander accelerated the attack, shot at goal, Perrault was the first to finish, but Johansson corrected the puck after his shot.
<2>
The “blades” failed to escape. Washington picked up a win, only their second in their last six games, which should help the Capitals gain confidence.

Semyon Varlamov ultimately stopped 28 shots out of 29, while his counterpart managed 37 shots out of 39. However, even despite Miller’s brilliant play, Buffalo is not yet among the participants in the Stanley Cup. However, there are still enough matches ahead to correct the situation and enter the top eight of the Eastern Conference.

Two Canadian teams, Calgary and Montreal, met as part of the Tim Hortons Heritage Classic. At McMahon Stadium, where Canadian football matches are usually held, in the presence of more than 40 thousand people, the Flames, to the delight of the crowd, beat the Canadiens. Four unanswered goals flew into Carrie Price's goal. Moreover, three of them were when playing in unequal lineups.
<3>
In the first period, Rene Bourque scored a power play, and in the second, Anton Babchuk beat the Habs goalkeeper shorthanded. His initiative was supported by the same Bourque, who distinguished himself in equal strength, and in the final 20 minutes Alex Tanguay again punished Montreal for rudeness. Flames goalkeeper Mika Kiprusoff stopped all 38 shots on his goal, rightfully becoming the first star of the meeting. Well, the audience at McMahon Stadium applauded their favorites for a long time.

Philadelphia beat the Rangers away. The Russian goalkeeper of the “pilots” Sergei Bobrovsky , who played in the recent match with Carolina (2:3), rested this time, and Brian Boucher took his place in the frame. The Giroux-Carter-Hartnell trio performed well, setting up the first two goals. Kris Versteeg , who hit the empty net, cleared up all questions regarding the outcome of the match. Boucher played the match brilliantly, stopping 37 shots. The Flyers extended their lead in the Eastern Conference standings with this win.

The match in Minnesota, where the local “savages” hosted Detroit, also turned out to be very tense. The fans had to wait for goals until the third period, at the beginning of which Nicklas Lidström completed the sweeping attack of the “red wings”. However, Detroit's defense soon made a blunder, allowing Martin Gavlat to rendezvous with Jimmy Howard . The Czech took advantage of this gift with great pleasure.

There were no more goals in either the third or fourth period, and the teams had to determine the winner in a series of post-match shootouts. As always, Pavel Datsyuk was impeccable, whose attempt became decisive after Howard coped with the throws of Marc-Pierre Bouchard and Matt Cullen, and Todd Bertussi beat Nicklas Backstrom and the “savages”.

Pittsburgh lost to Chicago in a shootout.

Without their leaders - Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin - the Penguins are not performing well. In the last seven meetings the team suffered five defeats. In the match with the Black Hawks, the guests came back twice and managed to reach overtime, which did not reveal a winner. However, Pascal Dupuis , neither Kris Letang nor Tyler Kennedy were able to beat Corey Crawford . But Patrick Kane scored on Marc-Andre Fleury, bringing victory to the Chicagoans.

Calgary goalkeeper Mikka Kiprusoff became the NHL's best player of the day, the league's official website reports. In the match with Montreal, he stopped all 39 shots from the opponent. The second star was Philadelphia forward Jeff Carter , who scored 2 (1+1) points in the match with the Rangers. Rounding out the top three was Washington center Matthew Perreault , who had a goal and an assist in the match against Buffalo.

News, results of the latest matches, the position of teams in divisions and hockey players in the list of scorers, as well as much more about the National Hockey League can be found on the NHL page .

What do you think?

Ovechkin is not afraid of “blades” - Gazeta.Ru