Ovechkin, known as Ovi by fans, took the hit to the face from Wild forward Chris Stewart during an intercept gone wrong in the second period, the puck hitting him just below his helmet visor. The traumatic moment was caught on video.
Alex Ovechkin deflected the puck into his face, left the ice to get stitched pic.twitter.com/lT4fAJMdWq
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) November 19, 2017
Ovechkin takes puck to the face. 🤕
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) November 19, 2017
Watch #CapsWild live stream: https://t.co/NGTPHxGvna pic.twitter.com/vMHIyHX2eK
The hockey great lay coiled in pain for almost a minute, bleeding all over the ice before getting up and heading off to the locker room. Fans sighed in relief after he returned for the third period with several stiches on his lip.
"Just try to feel my tooth, and it's fine," Ovechkin said in a postgame interview, brushing off the injury. "Just moving a little bit, but it's fine. It's hockey," he added.
#HockeyTough Ovechkin returns after being badly bloodied by puck to face — NBC Sports https://t.co/K4DPe6THxm
— darkmojo (@manojrao) November 19, 2017
Ovechkin left the match to get stitches in his face after taking a puck to it. Then came back and went back into the game. Hockey players. You have my respect and I'll never cut in a line that you're in.@NHL
— BILEDRIVER (@GetOutoftheFire) November 19, 2017
Playing off his famous line "I'm okay; Russian machine never breaks," which he adlibbed during another puck to the face injury from 2006, Ovechkin quipped that after Saturday's incident he was just "Changing oil."
Just another reminder that Alex Ovechkin is a machine. https://t.co/2iZGKxyoEc
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) November 19, 2017
The Capitols beat the Wild 3-1, ending Minnesota's winning streak.
