Alex Ovechkin scored the 860th goal of his storied career against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday night. The goal was his fourth on Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov.
After pumping a one-time blast by the young Russian netminder, Ovechkin appeared to pump his fist and yell in the direction of his countryman. Kochetkov was asked about the celebration after Carolina’s 4-2 win and confirmed the interaction.
“Yeah, yeah,” Kochetkov said postgame. “Every time he tell me lots of bad words. He scored me, ‘I score you! I score you!’ All Russians do this. It’s no problem for me.”
This isn’t the first time a Russian netminder has faced some “bad words” when playing Washington. Ilya Samsonov, in his first game with the Toronto Maple Leafs against his old club, reported hearing some of the same from his old teammates.
Sunday’s goal tied the game 1-1, and Brandon Duhaime punched home a leading goal for the Capitals only 33 seconds later. However, the Hurricanes would take the lead in the second period, and Kochetkov got some revenge on Ovechkin with a breakaway stop with Carolina up just one goal.
After being sent in on the break, Ovechkin faked a shot and tried to deke around the sprawled-out netminder. Kochetkov moved well enough to get his stick on Ovechkin’s stick to break up the play.
“Yeah, it’s lucky,” Kochetkov said. “I read shot, he see I go down, he went to backhand. Yeah, lucky. I just touched stick. No score. He score me last season. It’s just hockey, you know.”
Kochetkov made 19 saves in the victory, far less of a workload than Charlie Lindgren, his counterpart at the other end of the rink. Lindgren faced 44 shots from the Hurricanes as the tired Capitals, playing in their third game in four days, struggled to keep up with a fresh Canes team.
The 25-year-old backstop, forced into starter duty with Fredrik Andersen out injured, spoke about some of the difficulties a goaltender faces when they don’t see a lot of the puck.
“You know, it’s always tough,” Kochetkov said. “I try stay focused. I just think about next shot. Sometimes, no shots, you will get cold. It’s f—ing garbage. Today, I feel not bad. Guys lots of work today. Capitals have back-to-back, we play more times their zone. Lindgren have lots of work today. I happy we win, go home.”
Carolina’s win was their fifth with Kochetkov in net. He is now 5-1 on the season with a 2.61 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage.
