Ovechkin surpassed Wayne Gretzky as the league's all-time leading scorer earlier this season. But for Washington, the season didn't have much to remember.
They lost in the quarterfinals to Carolina, 1-4 in matches.
We had a very special group here this year, so it feels very tough, says Alex Ovechkin after tonight's 1-3.
We didn't play bad hockey, we just couldn't score. Hurricanes played extremely tight in their own zone.
One year left
Ovechkin may have played his last NHL game. It's not given that the 39-year-old will continue despite having one year left on the contract.
It's too early to talk about the future, he says.
The meeting became a tight story, where visiting Carolina took the lead in the first period's tenth minute with a full hit signed Jordan Staal.
The home team managed to equalize a few minutes later had a puck in goal in the second period, but this was ruled out. Instead, the result stood until 18.01 in the third act, when Svechnikov became the match hero with assists from Sean Walker and Seth Jarvis. The latter saw to it that nailed the final result 3-1 in an open net a short while later.
Sandin World Championship-actual?
Washington's exit means that defenseman Rasmus Sandin could become actual for Tre Kronor's team in the home World Championship.
In the semifinals, Carolina will face the winner of the match series between Florida and Toronto, which Florida leads 3-2.
In tonight's other quarterfinal match, Winnipeg crushed Dallas 4-0 and managed to reduce the match series to 2-3.
Winnipeg–Dallas: 2–3
Edmonton: 1–4 (Edmonton advances)
Florida–Toronto: 3–2
Washington–Carolina: 1–4 (Carolina advances)
The match series are decided in best of seven.
