The Russian machine never breaks, as they say.
Alex Ovechkin's resilience was on full display in Game 5, as the Washington Capitals superstar returned shortly after being upended by Toronto's Nazem Kadri.
Related: Ovechkin forced from game momentarily after Kadri hip check
Defenseman Nate Schmidt described the captain perfectly, telling Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post: "Just replace the parts and keep going."
The sentiment was echoed by goaltender Braden Holtby, with a subtle nod to the Russian winger's machine-like nature:
Holtby on Ovechkin: "There's a website named after him for a reason."
— Chris Gordon (@Chris_Gordon) April 22, 2017
Kadri, for his part, didn't feel the incident was all that problematic.
"From what I saw I thought it was okay," he told James Mirtle of The Athletic.
Despite leaving the ice late in the first period, Ovechkin saw 19:29 of ice time in the overtime win, recording three shots and six hits. He was in the locker room when the Capitals opened the scoring, but maintained he wasn't being tended to by the medical staff.
Ovechkin said knee doesn't hurt at all, just needed a break. On Oshie's PPG: “I was watching TV. Just have a Coke and enjoy the match.”
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) April 22, 2017
Because the machine apparently runs on caffeine.
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