Svechnikov, who appeared to lay briefly unconscious on the ice after the knockout blow, was later transferred to a local hospital. He did return to Carolina's facility on Tuesday, although he is in concussion protocol and the team is said to be in no rush to bring him back. Ovechkin had
positive wishes for Svechnikov after the game.
Asked if Svechkinov confirmed Ovechkin's account that Svechnikov asked Ovechkin to fight. Rod Brind'Amour said, "There's two versions of that going around. I'll just leave it at that."
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL)
April 16, 2019 Ovechkin still received plenty of praise for his fighting prowess, garnering a response from the official UFC account and its biggest star, Conor McGregor.
You know what they say..."Precision beats power, and timing beats speed." https://t.co/DIVeG9guz9
— UFC (@ufc)
April 16, 2019 Congrats @ovi8!A Proper Russian.Great to meet you in Moscow big man, see you again soon!They can run, but they can’t hide. https://t.co/R14KvFXf22
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA)
April 16, 2019 Luke Thomas, the preeminent fight analyst in mixed martial arts, even treated Ovi to an official fight breakdown.
Not everyone was on Ovi's side, obviously. He received an odd threat on Instagram from Svechnikov's older brother, 22-year-old Red Wings forward Evgeny Svechnikov.
