Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was injured early in the third inning on Sunday in the third period of a 4-3 penalty shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The sniper hit the planks with his left shoulder hard after missing an opportunity to break away. Then Ovi lay on the floor for a few moments and headed to his family’s locker room. Going there, the Russian threw down his protective helmet in a sign of frustration. He did not return to the game after that.
“I haven’t spoken to the therapist yet, so we have to wait for him to be evaluated,” coach Peter Laviollette said simply after the match.
“I’ve never seen anyone as cruel as this guy,” said striker TJ O’Shea. Hope they are correct. I just spoke to him, and I think he’ll be fine. It’s always scary to see him get hurt and stay on the ice. it’s hard. But if there’s one person I know who won’t miss out on too much, it’s Number 8.”
In 77 games so far in 2021-22, Ovechkin hit the target 50 times and provided 40 assists for 90 points. He has eight successes less than Auston Matthews, the National League’s top scorer.
The latter did not score against the “hats”, but collected assists on the successes of his teammates Ilya Lyubushkin and Jason Spiza. Ilya Mikheev was the other top scorer for the Leafs, while TJ O’Shea, Lars Eiler and Marcus Johansson moved the ropes at the club’s camp in Washington.
In the penalty shootout, Alexandre Kervut ended the debate in favor of the Queen City formation in the seventh round of this final stage of the match.
