On Friday, former Capitals forward Alex Semin, now a member of the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, scored a spectacular goal against Amur Khabarovsk. Reminiscent of Ovechkin’s magical goal against the Phoenix Coyotes in 2006 (okay, we’re stretching things just a little bit), Semin completely befuddled Amur defensemen Jan Kolar before firing a shot past goaltender Juha Metsola while falling over.
It was brilliant.
Video
The goal was Semin’s sixth of the season in 26 games. Metallurg went on to win 5-1.
GIF
Semin was the ultimate skill over will Washington Capitals player of this century. He scored nearly 200 goals in his seven seasons in D.C., hitting 40 goals over 73 games during the Caps’ Presidents’ Trophy winning campaign of 2009-10. Two seasons later, his goal total dropped to just 21, despite being perhaps more talented than Alex Ovechkin, one of hockey’s all-time great offensive weapons. After that, he faded into healthy scratch city with the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens before bolting to the KHL.
It’s goals like these that remind us why Semin was an elite scorer in the first place.
We miss you, Sasha dearest. An enigma wrapped in antisocial behavior wrapped in disgustingly dirty hockey skills.
