Ovechkin brought Washington's hockey players back to the ice to shake hands with goalkeeper Fleury

The Russian hockey player, captain of the American Washington Capitals team Alexander Ovechkin, in the regular season match on March 27 against the Minnesota Wild, could not reduce the gap from the record of Canadian Wayne Gretzky, but distinguished himself with another landmark act.

After Washington lost to their opponents with a score of 2:4 and his hockey players had already left the box, the captain asked his teammates to come back so that they could shake hands with Minnesota's reserve goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury.

For the 40-year-old Fleury, the meeting with Washington was the last in his career. The athlete announced his decision to retire from the sport at the end of the current season back in January. Hockey players from the capital's USA club paid tribute to the player, lining up so that everyone could shake his hand.

In the last meeting, the Washington Capitals suffered their second defeat in a row. Ovechkin, who has five more goals left to break Gretzky's record, did not score a single point in the game, Sport-Express said.

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On March 26, Vladislav Tretyak, President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, described Ovechkin as a hockey hero. In a conversation with Izvestia, he said that today's "boys are playing Ovechkin," as he is a true patriot of his country and serves as an idol for many. The head of the federation expressed confidence that the Russian player would be able to break the Canadian's record, as he had come a long way from being a graduate of Dynamo Moscow to the leader of the National Hockey League (NHL).