Ovechkin surpassed Wayne Gretzky as the league's all-time top 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 here this year, so it feels very tough, says Alex Ovechkin after tonight's 1-3 loss.
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 match. 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 tenth minute of the first period with a full hit by Jordan Staal.
The home team managed to equalize a few minutes later and had a puck in goal in the second period, but this was disallowed. Instead, the result stood until 18.01 in the third act, when Svetjnikov became the match hero with assists from Sean Walker and Seth Jarvis. The latter then saw to it that nailed the final score 3-1 in an open net a short while later.
Sandin VM-aktuell?
Washington's exit means that defenseman Rasmus Sandin could become relevant 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 3-2.
In tonight's other quarterfinal meeting, Winnipeg crushed Dallas 4-0 and thus managed to reduce the match series to 2-3.
Winnipeg–Dallas: 2-3
Vegas–Edmonton: 1-4 (Edmonton advances)
Florida–Toronto: 3-2
Washington–Carolina: 1-4 (Carolina advances)
The match series are decided in best of seven.
