Ovechkin Reacts To Kaprizov’s Spot-On Great 8 Imitation At All-Star Skills

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin reacted in typical “Ovi” fashion after seeing Kirill Kaprizov pull off a picture-perfect imitation of him during the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Friday.

The Great 8 took to social media to respond to the Wild star’s breakaway challenge attempt, and included his famous parentheses in his reply:

“Not bad!!!! :))))),” he wrote on Twitter.

Not bad!!! :))))) https://t.co/QjP5g3SFaf

— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) February 5, 2022

Kaprizov absolutely nailed his impersonation of Ovechkin as he went first in the breakaway challenge. He skated out sporting Ovi’s yellow laces and took off his Minnesota Wild jersey to reveal a Washington Capitals Ovechkin sweater underneath. Of course, it was tucked in.

Evgeny Kuznetsov also helped out, handing Kaprizov a white helmet with a No. 8 and tinted visor, along with a yellow Gatorade. Kaprizov then grabbed that and squirted it onto the ice just as Ovechkin does during warm-ups before taking a swig himself.

The 24-year-old then made his way to center ice. He pulled off a great move while shooting right-handed like Ovechkin (Kaprizov is a left-handed shooter). After he scored, he broke out Ovechkin’s vintage “hot stick” celebration from his 50th goal back in 2009.

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Ovechkin was set to captain the Metropolitan Division team at the 2022 NHL All-Star Weekend. However, he couldn’t attend after testing positive for COVID-19. The 36-year-old is having one of the best seasons of his career and ranks among the league leaders in scoring with 29 goals and 58 points in 46 games this season. Tom Wilson ultimately took his place.

While Kaprizov’s attempt was spot-on, and Trevor Zegras’ Dodgeball tribute stole the show, Alex Pietrangelo eventually won after Jon Hamm and the celebrity judges gave him the highest scores. Kaprizov earned a 47 for his attempt.

Kaprizov has embraced the Capitals since coming to Vegas. The Minnesota forward revealed that he named his cat Kuzy after Kuznetsov. He also played with Kuznetsov and Ovechkin back in 2019 at the IIHF World Championships.