Washington wins again without Ovechkin. When will he return?

The Capitals beat Anaheim to a nail-biter in an NHL match.

Alexander Ovechkin is not included in Washington's lineup for the third game in a row. On the morning of the game, according to local journalists, the Capitals were not divided into lines during the warm-up, and Ovechkin even skated with the team. Therefore, the decision on the participation of the main star was again made immediately before the game with Anaheim. Spencer Carbury, either himself or together with Alexander, decided not to risk his health. Given this fact, we can hope that Ovechkin will soon return to the lineup.

The first period of the match turned out to be difficult to watch. As if both teams, in principle, did not set a goal for themselves to score the puck. Anaheim made only three shots on target in the first 20 minutes of the meeting.

However, the only goal in the match (against the goalkeeper) happened in the first period.

Defenseman Ethan Beer scored his first goal for Washington, finishing it into the goal after a shot from TJ Oshie. It seems that Spencer Carbery managed to find another working connection. The Oshie-Strome-Pacioretty trio excelled in all three games in which Ovechkin was absent.

The leader in terms of playing time in the Capitals’ lineup was the second trio with Protas. With her on the ice, Anaheim could not create anything even remotely resembling a dangerous moment.

The second and third periods turned out to be more eventful in terms of chances created, but neither Darcy Kuemper nor John Gibson allowed their opponents to hit their goal. For Kemper, this “cracker” was the first this season. Finally, the Canadian showed the game that is expected of him in Washington.

Evgeny Kuznetsov is completely invisible on the ice. The statistics of the Russian forward are terrifying: in the last 17 matches he has only 3 (1+2) points. In the match with Anaheim, his top three became the worst in terms of playing time.

Washington continues to fight for the playoffs. In terms of points lost, the Capitals are already in the coveted top 8, ahead of Tampa, Detroit and the Islanders.

Ovechkin still has 8 goals this season. With such a schedule, it will be problematic to hang out with Gretzky. Alexander needs to return to the ice and try to at least catch up with Crosby, who has already scored 26 goals this season..