Vagaries of fate: Ovechkin is chasing an absolute record, and Kucherov is chasing the Art Ross Trophy

Minnesota Wild hockey player Kirill Kaprizov became the club's best sniper in history. On the night of March 4, he scored his 220th goal in the league and beat the former striker of his team, Marian Gaborik. Meanwhile, Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin is approaching his 1,000th NHL goal, taking into account the playoffs. And Nikita Kucherov, the leader of the Tampa Bay Lightning's attacks, continues to go third in the goal+pass system of the regular season, trying to catch up with the leaders Connor McDavid and Nathan McKinnon.

The new legend of "Minnesota"

The 28-year-old Russian striker has been playing for Minnesota since 2020. In almost six seasons with the club, he played 381 games in the regular NHL championships, scoring 220 goals and making 241 assists. Kaprizov scored his record 220th goal in the match against Tampa, which his team won 5-1.

The previous Minnesota record holder for goals in regular championships, Slovakian Marian Gaborik, played for the club in 2000-2009. Kaprizov scored 75 (35+40) points in 62 matches using the goal+pass system this season. Kirill is sixth in the goalscoring contest, trailing Maclean Celebrini (San Jose) by 12 points in goal+pass, but scoring five more goals.

"I would like to congratulate Kirill on such an achievement," Maxim Sushinsky, a former Minnesota forward, told Izvestia. — I've already done it personally, by writing him a message, and I'll do it again through the press. It is very pleasant when our guys achieve such achievements in the strongest league on the planet. During my short time at Minnesota, I crossed paths with Gaborik and I can say that he is an outstanding hockey player. It is very difficult to surpass his achievement, so Kaprizov has achieved a truly outstanding success. He's a real team leader. I would like to wish him to continue to show high performance, and the club to successfully compete in the playoffs.

Chasing a thousand

After the NHL's three-week Olympic Games break ended at the end of February, Washington played four matches. In one of them, away against the Montreal Canadiens (2-6), Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals. The number of his goals overseas in the regular championships and playoffs reached 998.

Almost a year has passed since the 40-year-old striker broke Wayne Gretzky's seemingly eternal record for goals in regular championships. The legendary Canadian has 894 of them. Ovechkin already has 921. At the same time, taking into account the playoffs, Gretzky has 1016 goals. Thus, one of the main intrigues of this spring lies not only in Alexander's possible 1,000th goal, which he has two goals left, but also in whether he can break another Wayne record.

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The capital's team is fighting with competitors and is trying to sign Panarin.

Washington has 19 matches left until the end of the regular season. It is possible that they will be the last for the Russian in his 21-year career in the NHL. His contract with the capital club expires in the summer, and Ovi himself says in his public appearances that he has not yet decided whether to sign a new agreement.

To break Gretzky's record this season, Ovechkin needs to score an average of more than one goal per game in the regular season. But it is possible that he will still have a chance in the playoffs if Washington gets there. There are difficulties with this, but there are still chances. In the Metropolitan Division, the team is fifth, and the top three places go to the playoffs.

Ovechkin's team is six points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders, who are in second and third. At the same time, she has already played three and two more matches, respectively. The next game — on the road against the Boston Bruins — at Washington will take place on the evening of March 7.

"Let's hope Ovechkin scores his 1,000th goal in the very near future," Vladimir Krikunov, the former head coach of the Russian national team, told Izvestia. — As for Gretzky's record, it will be difficult to break it this season. To do this, you need to get into the playoffs, which Washington is currently having difficulties with. In addition, Sasha is very unstable this season — he can score a series of goals, or he can go several games in a row without scoring goals at all. After the Olympic break, he has two goals in four matches, both scored in one game. But I think he's going to burst in March. The question is whether this courage is enough to score 19 goals and break the record by the end of the season.

Equal among the favorites

The Tampa Bay Lightning won the first of four matches after the Olympic break, and then suffered three defeats in a row. Perhaps this is due to the absence of his head coach John Cooper, who performed similar functions in the Canadian national team at the last Olympics in Milan, where the Maple Leafs lost to the United States in the final (1:2).

But these setbacks do not prevent Tampa from leading in the Atlantic Division, although the gap from fourth-placed Montreal (the first of the teams outside the playoff zone) is only five points. Nikita Kucherov scored twice in three lost matches for the Lightning.

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And in what ways is he already superior to Alexander Ovechkin

It is worth noting that in 55 matches, the 32-year—old striker made 64 assists - according to this indicator, he is in second place in the regular season, six passes behind McDavid. Kucherov is third in the goal+pass goalscoring contest with 96 (32+64) points. Only McDavid is higher with 105 (35+70) and McKinnon with 100 (41+59) points. Thus, the Russian is one of the main favorites for the Art Ross Trophy— the award for the best scorer of the season.

Also among the successes of the Russians in the NHL after the Olympic break, it is worth noting the performance of Columbus Blue Jackets striker Kirill Marchenko, who scored 5 (3+2) points in the last four matches, and his former teammate Egor Chinakhov, who joined Pittsburgh in early January — the native of Omsk scored seven goals in the last 12 meetings.

The NHL regular season will end on the night of April 16-17, Moscow time.