Ovechkin came in second on the list of the best hockey players of the XXI century

Russian forward and captain of the National Hockey League (NHL) Washington Capitals hockey club (HC) Alexander Ovechkin was ranked second on the list of the best hockey players of the 21st century by Canadian website Sportsnet.

"Since he stepped onto the ice in 2005 and scored twice in his first NHL game, Ovechkin has brought exuberance and goals to every court he has played on," the portal noted in a Jan. 1 publication.

At the top of Sportsnet's list was Pittsburgh Penguins Canadian forward Sidney Crosby. The final argument in his favor was the hockey player's decisive year in the final of the home Olympics-2010. Closed the top three Canadian, the capital of the NHL club "Edmonton Oilers" Connor McDavid, adds "Gazeta.Ru".

In addition, the top ten ranking included two more Russians: two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk (7th place) and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov (8th place).

In the current season Ovechkin played 21 games, scoring 27 (17+10) points, specifies "Sport-Express". To surpass the sniper record of Canadian Wayne Gretzky, the forward has 24 pucks.

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Ovechkin flies for the record, Michkov rushes for the prize

Earlier, December 24 last year, it was reported that the Russian forward Evgeni Malkin, playing for the American HC "Pittsburgh Penguins" in the match with "Philadelphia" gave two important passes. Thus, he became the third player in Pittsburgh history to score 500 (180+320) points on the power play, as well as the second Russian in NHL history with such a set of points. Forward Ovechkin was the first Russian to do so.