But the Russian returned and took revenge. Incredible toughness from Washington’s captain in the playoffs.
In the series against Washington, the New York Rangers are trying to be better than their opponents in everything: the number of shots, dangerous moments and time of possession of the puck. In addition, the Blueshirts decided to surpass the Capitals in the power play in the second match. Even Artemiy Panarin did not fight off the team and knocked out TJ Oshie with a hard hit.
To win the series, the team from New York may well continue to play aggressively. However, it is better for the Rangers to avoid using forceful techniques on Alexander Ovechkin, because this could end sadly for the Rangers hockey players.
“Ovi is a real horse”
In the playoffs of the 2016/17 season, Washington came out of first place in the Metropolitan Division. And Ovechkin’s team approached the opening round against Toronto as favorites. However, the Canadian club unexpectedly caused a lot of problems for the Capitals, and after four games the series score was 2-2.
The teams started the fifth match with a tough power struggle: none of the hockey players wanted to skate past their opponent. Absolutely normal things for the playoffs, but one of the hits led to a big scandal. Three minutes before the end of the first period, Ovechkin received a pass in his own zone and rushed into a counterattack. Only Toronto center forward Nazem Kadri stood in the way of the Washington captain. The Russian threw the puck along the boards and sharply shifted to the center, but Kadri at that moment crouched down and flew into Ovechkin’s knee with his hip.
The forward with a figure eight on his back flew into the air and landed hard on the ice. The Washington captain immediately tried to get up, but, leaning on his sore leg, abandoned the idea. The attacker held his knee with his hands and then lay motionless for a long time.
Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: © Nick Turchiaro / Icon Sportswire / Global Look Press
Soon, the Capitals club doctor ran onto the site, assisted the hockey player and helped him get up. Ovechkin couldn’t even skate to the bench on his own: it was painful for the Russian to shift his body weight to his left leg. As a result, two Washington players helped their teammate get to the locker room.
Kadri’s hit looked so bad that it looked like Ovechkin would be seriously injured. At the same time, the Leafs player received only two minutes for a dangerous hit. Washington managed to punish the opponent in a sportsmanlike manner: TJ Oshie converted the majority. The Caps’ goal was good, but the capital’s players rejoiced with restraint, because the captain was in the locker room at that moment. And the discussion of the strongman Kadri continued. Most fans and experts recognized the obvious fact – the Canadian played dirty. But there were also those who began to defend Kadri.
— You know, Washington coach Barry Trotz probably considers this the most important moment in the whole match. But I think there was no violation in this collision. That’s the beauty of the playoffs,” Toronto head coach Mike Babcock said.
It would be strange to hear something different from the Toronto coach, but expert and TV presenter Don Cherry, who has always been famous for his special attitude towards Ovechkin, was surprised.
– This is a perfect hit from a rules point of view. You should be given a medal for this! Beauty! He received a penalty, Toronto conceded a goal. Now it’s always like this: a player gets injured, and the judges immediately look for a reason to give a fine. But everything is clean here. It’s a bad decision from the judges,” Don Cherry said.
Fortunately, there was no serious injury, and Ovechkin returned to the ice in the second period. The Washington captain immediately began to take revenge on the Leafs players. The first to be hit was Matt Martin, who received a stabbing blow from his stick. The Capitals forward then took a hard hit to split Jake Gardiner. Ovechkin didn’t stop there and soon hit Kadri in the ribs with his stick. Surprisingly, the capital’s striker was never sent off.
Nazem Kadri / Photo: © Rene Johnston / Contributor / Toronto Star / Gettyimages.ru
Washington won this match, and the Capitals players were happy that everything was okay with the captain.
— Ovi is a real horse. It takes a lot of effort to hurt this guy, especially at this time of year. He came back great, the fans gave him a huge ovation and he helped us in a tough game,” Tom Wilson said.
But Kadri honestly admitted that he was not happy to see Ovechkin on the court.
“I’m not entirely sure I was happy to see him return to the ice.” Of course I have a lot of respect for the guy, but at the end of the day, I would be cheating my teammates if I didn’t try to stop him. I had no choice, I had to try to delay him and help my team,” Kadri said after the match.
The victory in the fifth meeting of the series did not make Ovechkin forget that episode. The Washington captain was still angry at his opponent.
“I didn’t watch the replay, but I can definitely say that it was a dirty game.” The league should look at this, and if not, then it doesn’t matter now,” Ovechkin said.
In the sixth game of the confrontation, the Russian again took revenge on the Canadian. During the struggle along the boards, Kadri somehow ended up on the shoulders of the Washington forward. At that moment, Ovechkin straightened up to his full height, and the Canadian landed on his back on the ice from almost a two-meter height. But the main thing is that the Capitals won again and advanced to the next round, where they lost to Pittsburgh.
