Having defeated Washington, he topped the conference table

NHL

The fall of the Washington Capitals continues to be one of the main topics of discussion in the NHL. The results of the capital's club are too deplorable to ignore its problems, although by all accounts before the start of the season it should have been confidently among the leaders. Yesterday, Washington suffered its ninth defeat this season, losing 2:5 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Evgeni Malkin shone among the winners, becoming the best player of the match with a goal and two assists. Thanks to this success, Pittsburgh became the leader of the Eastern Conference.

After a defeat, especially if it is already the fifth in the last six matches, it is difficult to find a reason for optimism. But Adam Oates, appointed head coach of the Washington Capitals in the summer, found him yesterday. “I’m glad the guys showed character,” he said after his team’s match against the Pittsburgh Penguins ended.

But this character was only enough to get back just one goal in the third period after conceding five in the second period they failed. A mentor who is trying to find microscopic grains of positivity in his team’s play is well aware that he, in fact, has nothing to boast about. “Washington” under Oates just can’t find its game. At the moment, the team occupies the last, thirtieth place in the NHL summary table, although before the start of the championship in all unofficial pre-season ratings it was among the main contenders for the Stanley Cup.

In addition, its leader Alexander Ovechkin, whom Adam Oates initially used on the right wing, which was unusual for a Russian, before the match with Pittsburgh had only five points in ten meetings - a minuscule amount for a striker who twice won the Hart Trophy for the best hockey player in the league. Moreover, over the course of Washington’s last three meetings, the forward left the ice without scoring any goals at all.

There are no signs of Washington emerging from the crisis yet. The goalkeepers are still so-so - both Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth. The defenders still help them little, allowing themselves strange failures like the one that finally broke Washington in the second period, when with the score 1:2 in favor of Pittsburgh, the capital club conceded two goals with an interval of 11 seconds.

The only thing that can please Washington fans is that Alexander Ovechkin seems to have woken up from his January hibernation. Yesterday he resembled his former self: the striker scored two points (a goal plus an assist), constantly moved, putting pressure on the opponent, and made sharp passes to his teammates. However, the activity of the captain, who scored his long-awaited goal in the third period, when the outcome of the match was already a foregone conclusion, was clearly not enough to compete with Pittsburgh, which had gained momentum.

Having conceded in the opening period, the Penguins literally crushed the guests in the second. The ringleaders, as usual, were Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, who chalked up a goal and two assists each. By the way, they were eventually declared the best players of the match. Malkin was the first star, Crosby the second. Thanks to this victory, by the way, the fifth in a row, Pittsburgh soared to the very top of the Eastern Conference. True, his lead over second-placed Boston is minimal - just one point. At the same time, the Bruins have two games in hand.

Another famous Russian hockey player who came into the spotlight of hockey fans yesterday was Ilya Kovalchuk, whose goal and assist helped the New Jersey Devils beat the Tampa Bay Lightning on their ice - 4:2. Moreover, the Russian scored his goal when the “devils” were playing in the minority. The striker leisurely passed the center of the court, lazily rolled into the zone and after a pause, with a wrist shot from the left edge, he brought his team ahead (2:1).

Yuri Ugrinov

Pittsburgh rises in the East