Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin laid out Carolina Hurricanes rookie Andrei Svechnikov as the two fought in Game 3 of their first round series.
The knockout went viral, prompting chatter. Svechnikov exited the game and did return with what was listed as an upper body injury. Of course, the crowd inside the PNC Arena in Raleigh was not pleased. Neither was Andrei’s older brother, Evgeny Svechnikov.
The Detroit Red Wings forward seemingly sent a threat to Ovechkin over an Instagram story in response to him knocking out his little brother.
āOne, Two, Freddyās coming for youā are words from the song from the feature film A Nightmare on Elm Street in reference to Freddy Krueger. He also tagged Ovechkin’s account in the post.
Following the game, Ovechkin noted that Andrei asked for the fight. However, he extended his well wishes to the Hurricanes rookie.
āFirst of all, I hope he’s OK,ā Ovechkin told reporters per JJ Regan of NBC Sports Washington. āI’m not a big fighter and he’s same way. He asked me to fight and I said, let’s go. Yeah.ā
Hurricanes head coach Rod BrindāAmour wasn’t pleased with the fight.
“One guyās gloves comes off way first. And thatās Ovi, not our guy,” Brind’Amour said per Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. “So itās a little bit frustrating because he got hurt. It’s his first fight. He’s played 90 games. Heās never fought in his life, and I’m pretty sure Ovi knew that. So that stuff bothers me.ā
Game 4 of the series is set for Thursday in Raleigh. The tension of the series is building, following the Hurricanes’ 5-0 win Monday and Ovechkin hurting Svechnikov.
