hahahahaha)))make party in moscow!!!! (Photo credit: kelo.ru)

Last season, The Washington Post published a 4,000 word feature titled, “What’s Wrong With Alex Ovechkin?” The story asked why, as Ovechkin gets older, he seems to spend less time with his teammates. In it, writer Tarik El-Bashir said,”whatever the case, the so-called ‘Young Guns’ aren’t as close as they once were.”

We’ve got some evidence to the contrary.

First, Ovi helped negotiate a contract between Dynamo Moscow and Nicklas Backstrom so the two could play together in the KHL during the lockout. Now that Nicky’s officially in Alex’s homeland, the Capitals captain is giving him the full Russian experience. On Thursday night, Ovi brought Backstrom as his guest to comedian Mikhail Galustyan’s birthday party, a private event held at the Moscow restaurant Pink Cadillac.

The two Capitals were joined by Russian pop star Nyusha. The singer is known in Russia for allegedly dating volatile Alex Radulov, who starred in her video “Painfully” (also an apt description of Radulov’s acting). Nicky should tread lightly; Rads is the jealous type.

It’s great that Ovechkin is making an effort to make Backstrom more comfortable in a new country.

Here are some more goofy pictures of the BFFs.

Purple-cardiganed birthday boy admires the Russian machine’s guns.

Backstrom to Nyusha: I have no idea what’s you’re saying, but eye contact is fun.

To see more photos of the party, check out kelo.ru and kp.ru.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin.