The Russian captain of “Washington” rewrote another page of hockey records in North America. As of now, Ovechkin is the best goalscorer in NHL history. But so far this only applies to away games.

“Oh no!” – Vancouver Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau said emotionally on the eve of the match with the Washington Capitals, he heard a journalist reminding Caps leader Alexander Ovechkin that he could soon repeat and break the legendary Wayne Gretzky’s record for away goals. The seasoned specialist had reason to worry. First, before his next face-to-face with Orcas, Ovechkin had scored 12 goals in the previous 23 games against the Canadian club. It was in the fight against Vancouver, where Alexander broke his three-game “idle” winning streak with goals scored in the new season. Secondly, the elite Russian disturbs the teams led by Boudreau with special regularity. But after the Canadian coach Ovechkin himself managed.

The 37-year-old Russian isn’t going into space yet, but he arrived at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and got down to business right away. Less than ten minutes into the game, Alexander said to Boudreau and all the Canucks fans with the same “Oh no!”

Just 6 minutes into the game, Ovechkin received a gift from Quinn Hughes, who had made a big mistake while pulling the puck into his goal, and immediately sent the bullet into the net. The situation developed so quickly that Spencer Martin did not have time to orient himself, and as a result, he became the 165th victim of the Russian sniper in the NHL. For Ovechkin, this goal was his 135th career goal when he opened the score in a match, and in this indicator he caught league record holder Jaromir Jagr.

Just six minutes later, the “Washington” leader made a double and scored 403 away goals in the NHL championships, becoming the league’s best sniper, breaking another Wayne Gretzky record. Oleksandr did it all for himself in a classic style: he filled his branded ball from the left starting circle, leaving no chance for the goalkeeper. But the Russians still have to get ahead of Gretzky’s main record. Ovi reduced the backlog of Gordie Howe (801 goals) to eight goals, from the best scorer in league history to the 101st place.

Encouraged, the “Washington” captain was excited by the idea of ​​a hat-trick and fired at Martin’s door and frames, but the Canadian goalkeeper was unable to sway his opponent’s mind. In one of the episodes, Ovechkin nodded approvingly to the Vancouver goalkeeper and appreciated one of his saves after another shot. Alexander threw the puck and hit the empty net at the end of the meeting, but missed. It is noteworthy that throughout his entire rich career, Alexander never scored three goals in a single game against the Canucks. But in total at regular NHL championships, Ovi scored 28 hat-tricks, 14 of which were in guest meetings.

However, not only Ovechkin rich “Capitals”. Others also found control over the “killer whales” keeper. In the first period, Anthony Manta slammed Martin’s door with a penny, completing the combination of Markus Johansson and Lars Eller. The latter struggled well across the boards and robbed Elias Pettersson, while Johansson made an accurate cross for a goal. Near the end of the second 20-minute period, John Carlson, with some curiosity, carried the puck to the top corner, and a few minutes before the final siren, Martin Fehervari crashed into an empty net. Although “Vancouver” created many dangerous moments at the hands of “Washington”, Nils Heglander was honored with only one goal when Ovechkin literally scored immediately after celebrating a double.

By the way, Alexander and his “Washington” celebrate not only the record of the Russians, but also the overall team victory. After a slap in the face from “New Jersey” and the start of a long road streak he was crucial to “Capitals”.