- Alex Ovechkin scored in his first game action since signing his one-year Capitals extension, roofing one past KHL goalie Nikita Serebryakov
- Team Sergachev edged Team Panarin 10-9, with Aliaksei Protas winning it in a sudden-death shootout
- Read below for Ovechkin’s car entrance and Matvei Michkov’s Michigan goal
Alex Ovechkin is back on the ice, and he wasted no time finding the back of the net.
The Capitals captain suited up Saturday for Artemi Panarin and Mikhail Sergachev’s annual “Match of the Year” charity game at SKA Arena in Saint Petersburg. It was his first game action since signing a one-year extension to return to Washington for 2026-27.
Drafted to Team Sergachev earlier this month, Ovechkin skated on a line with Caps teammate Aliaksei Protas and Predators first-round pick Yegor Surin. He roofed his team’s sixth goal past KHL netminder Nikita Serebryakov off a slick Surin feed. Protas skated over and grabbed the puck for him.
Watch the Great 8 pick the top corner:
Ovechkin was far from the only star on the sheet. Kirill Marchenko, Vasily Podkolzin, Alexander Nikishin and Pavel Mintyukov all lit the lamp too. Matvei Michkov saved the best for himself, scooping the puck up behind the net and finishing the Michigan goal he has tried and missed in the NHL.
Check out Michkov’s lacrosse-style finish:
The two sides were knotted 9-9 after 60 minutes and went to a shootout. The first 10 shooters could not solve Serebryakov or Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov. Ovechkin took one of Team Sergachev’s early attempts and sailed it well over the bar.
Protas settled it in sudden death, sliding a five-hole move past Serebryakov for the only goal of the round. Askarov stoned Team Panarin’s last try to seal the 10-9 win.
Here’s Protas ending it:
The hockey was only half the show. RMNB caught Ovechkin making his entrance by getting driven onto the ice in a car, an extension of the commercial he filmed to hype the game over the summer.
See the entrance:
It’s a fun offseason cameo for a player who nearly didn’t come back. Protas has said nobody in the Capitals room knew Ovechkin was re-signing until it happened. Now the 40-year-old is scoring in exhibition play with training camp still weeks away.
