Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin added to his hockey image last night after his lip was cut open in his team’s contest against the Minnesota Wild. The 32-year-old was forced to leave the game momentarily after a Chris Stewart pass deflected off his stick and hit him in the face. Like a true hockey player, Ovy finished the game and helped lead his team to a 3-1 victory.
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Luckily for Ovy, he was able to escape the situation without losing any of his teeth. Despite the blood, the captain said afterwards that he was “fine”. When asked about his short stint in the dressing room, Ovechkin said that he was simply “changing the oil.”
The guy is built like a machine, so the response was very appropriate.
It’s a fitting answer for a player who has already lost teeth and endured his share of injuries while playing the game. The Russian wasn’t the only skater that had his face covered in blood this month, as New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey suffered the same fate when he took a Zack Kassian skate to the face during a home game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 11th. Vesey also returned to action, but sported a fish bowl after losing multiple front teeth.
Ovechkin didn’t seem too rattled, and there’s a little part of most hockey players that probably feel a sense of pride after they suffer a battle wound that’s related to the game. For Ovy, he’ll have that scar to remind him of the incident for a long, long time.
(H/T Russian Machine)
