In his first match since Jan. 19, Ovechkin scored the overtime winner to assist the Washington Capitals conquer the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Saturday night at a showdown between the top teams from the NHL’s East Division.
Following Ovechkin missed the past four games due to COVID-19 protocols, the high-scoring forwards revealed his career-long flair for the dramatic by beating Tuukka Rask using an ideal shot 28 seconds into overtime.
“It was enjoyable,” said Ovechkin, who had an assist while being slipped back with 14 minutes of ice time. “It was sort of hard… but we fought through it and we will take the win”
Ovechkin has missed just 35 games from a potential 1,191 in his profession — with just 17 due to harm.
Coach Peter Laviolette desired to maintain Ovechkin under 15 minutes since he had not been on the ice for so long, and he detected the 35-year-old increase as the match went on.
“In the next stage, I believed that he was better, and also at the next period, I believed he had been better, and also the fourth periodhe seemed just like he wanted to complete the match,” Laviolette said. “For him to come from this 10 times and play with a game the way he did, I believed that was a real incentive for our staff.”
Ovechkin was sidelined after goalie Ilya Samsonov tested positive for COVID-19, which compelled the NHL to run contract tracing. It was ascertained that Ovechkin, ahead Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and Samsonov were in precisely the exact same hotel room, which violates the NHL’s rigorous road excursion rules for its 2021 season.
“It stinks, of course,” Ovechkin told reporters before Saturday’s match. “nobody wishes to be suspended. Nobody would like to place yourself in that place. It is finished. You learn from it and proceed.”
Orlov was removed off the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol record but wasn’t in the lineup on Saturday. Samsonov and Kuznetsov have to be rid.
The Capitals on Saturday remained unbeaten in law at 6-0-3 and prolonged their franchise-best point series to begin a year to nine matches.
Former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara played nearly 21 minutes in his first game against his former team, which did not find him as a fulltime participant at age 43. Chara — that does not wear a visor — took a puck to the face in the first time but returned to the second and did not miss a change.