Russian Hockey Players Shines in the NHL
The two best-known Russian hockey players working overseas, Evgeny Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin, faced off for the first time in a National Hockey League championship. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals 4:5, and Malkin was named best player of the match. A week before that, Ovechkin had been named one of the three best players of the championship, along with the New Jersey Devils' Martin Brodeur and Tampa Bay Lightning's Vincent Lecavalier.
Malkin and Ovechkin, who played together on the Russian Olympic team and the Russian world junior team, greeted each other warmly before the game and gave a joint interview to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Malkin using a translator), which became part of extensive coverage of them in that newspaper.
The match was broadcast throughout the North American continent and extensively advertised as the showdown between Ovechkin and Malkin's teammate, popular Canadian player Sid Crosby. Crosby is leading in the fans' vote for the all-star game, in which Malkin ranks 14th (third among Russians, after Ovechkin and Maxim Afinogenov of the Buffalo Sabers). Last year, Ovechkin beat Crosby to be named rookie of the year.
It was Malkin who stole the show yesterday, however, when he scored the decisive point. After that he was sent to the sidelines for a foul, but played again in overtime.
www.commersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 13, 2006
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