yesterday 11:14
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Russian hockey cannon Alexander Ovechkin is the sixth player with at least 30 hat-tricks in the overseas NHL regular season. The striker from Washington completed the number of his duels with at least three goals the day before the new year in the battle with Montreal (9:2) and already has 806 accurate shots in the professional league.
Before Ovechkin, only five hockey players reached the NHL goal of 30 hat-tricks: Wayne Gretzky (50), Mario Lemieux (40), Mike Bossy (39), Brett Hull (33) and Phil Esposito (32). On Sunday evening he confirmed that he usually does well against Montreal, scoring a total of 37 goals in 53 duels with this opponent. When asked after the game if he had a special recipe against the Canadiens, he replied, “I’m just trying to enjoy playing hockey.”
Washington had a great start to the game, scoring on the very first sub in the 32nd second and eventually giving away ten points to a weak defensive opponent. “We got off to a great start and created as many chances as possible today.” said Ovechkin, who scored in the 30th, 42nd and 57th minutes.
In the season he has 26 goals on his account and is currently third in the list of goalscorers. In the last four games, he’s added six to his account. He had remained silent in four duels before then, but the pressure dropped just before Christmas after he overtook Gordie Howe (801) into second place in the historic goalscoring chart.
Filip Forsberg also scored a hat-trick on Sunday night. It was his eighth three-goal game in his career overseas, but he only brought Nashville a point after a 4-5 overtime loss on the ice of Las Vegas. The visitors already led 2:0, but eventually had to come from behind and two goals from Forsberg in the third period ensured them at least an equalizer after 60 minutes. The tie came five seconds before the third period buzzer in overtime.
“We got off to a good start, but the opponent managed to turn the duel to his side. I’m happy that in the end I helped force at least extra time.” said Forsberg, who surpassed 500 points in the pro league regular season thanks to a hat trick. In 601 meetings, he has 234 goals and 267 assists.
