The confrontation “Pittsburgh Penguins” and “Washington Capitals” has long been a true modern hockey classic. In terms of intensity, the battles between the “penguins” and the “capital” are comparable to full-fledged derbies, and their battles in the playoffs brought together fans of the best sport from all over the world with a stick and puck. screens.

But the fire in the head-to-head matches between the two seemingly irreconcilable rivals has gradually subsided. Even Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin became close friends after years of hard and sometimes brutal dueling, whose opposition history is already a separate chapter in the NHL’s endless saga. Recently, two great foes in modern league history displayed a revealing joint score at the last All-Star Game in Florida. And on the eve of the next face-to-face meeting, the actors of “Pittsburgh” and “Washington” had a general dinner. But the conversation concerns only Russian-speaking hockey players of both teams: Evgeni Malkin’s family invited their compatriots Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alexander Alekseev from the “capital” camp, as well as Belarusian Alexei Protas.

To some, such a move may seem mundane: “All of them, after all, but why does it matter which clubs they play for?” However, such meetings are not regular. Another indicator of mutual respect was the events that took place directly in today’s match. Even when the rosters were announced, Pittsburgh fans gave Ovechkin a standing ovation in their arena when the announcer announced his name, and later, during one of the first period’s mini-breaks, the Penguins congratulated Alexander on his historic achievement. Russia has moved up to a clean second place on the list of top scorers in NHL championships history.

Penguin fans who had hated Ovechkin in the relatively recent past have now applauded him. Ovi personally congratulated Sidney Crosby, who was honored with 30 goals or more in the first period on the occasion of Canada’s 11th season.

However, with the confrontation that began, everyone forgot about friendship. And this is easily explained: both teams are battling fiercely for a place in the playoffs, and one of them will definitely not have enough tickets to travel to the Stanley Cup. And if “Pittsburgh” is in a relatively promising position, “Washington” has brought the situation to a critical point due to the failed show at the end of the “regular season”. Because of this, the fight in PPG Paints Arena turned out to be sharp and aggressive – not even the thought of a personal principled confrontation arises when every victory is worth its weight in gold.

The ‘capitals’ won the first match and looked more dangerous at the start, while at other moments the ‘capitals’ were more preferable. Alexander Ovechkin, among other things, had a great moment for the goal, but the Russian sniper did not notice a zero-to-one – Pittsburgh goalkeeper Casey Desmith guessed the Washington captain’s plan. Also assisted by Ovechkin, John Carlson made a terrific save after a one-shot.

The “Penguins” competently disposed of their moment. Moreover, at these moments, the ‘Capitals’ kept themselves together with the main rival. First, Ryan Peeling penalized guests for a mistake in the transfer. Two minutes later, Chad Ruvedel nearly completed the same Penguin counterattack, and early in his third debut, Jake Gunzel took advantage of another failure by the Caps defenders to set the score 3-0.

But even with such an advantage, the outcome of the “Pence” match was not an inevitable one. In the current season, Mike Sullivan’s team has repeatedly lost the game out of control and missed some wins. That almost happened in today’s crazy game. A little over 10 minutes into the third period, “Washington” scored all three!

First, Evgeny Kuznetsov pulled the puck to the far side after Chris Letang’s misfire and gave a brilliant pass to Tom Wilson from behind the door. Tom was supposed to hit less than a meter.

Then Alexander Ovechkin visited his favorite office and loaded his branded ball from there during the power play, having already thrown the 822th puck in the NHL championship. Wayne Gretzky’s record – only 72 goals!

After Dylan Strome took the lead, leveling the score with more than two minutes of regular time. Overtime seemed unavoidable, but Evgeni Malkin came up with his own argument against this scenario. The Russian super forward of “Pittsburgh” has so far been distinguished by only a few aggressive actions in the game and constant clashes with opponents, but at the critical moment he showed a master class. Gino quickly counterattacked and “flashed” the “Washington” goalie with a spectacular wrist shot. The feelings for Eugene and all of “Pittsburgh” cannot be described in words – you have to look at him. Even Sidney Crosby rejoiced like a child!

4-3 — “Pittsburgh” not only scored an important victory over its main rival, but also earned two key points in the playoff fight. “Washington” almost loses its chance to qualify for the Stanley Cup. So far only officially, but soon it will really happen.