Tonight as the Washington Capitals came into Pittsburgh to face off against the Penguins, we got a pretty special moment. Ivan Miroshnichenko on February 4th of 2022, while playing in Russia’s second division, received the diagnosis that he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma. February 4th happens to be his birthday. Cancer, at 18. After receiving treatment in Germany, losing 30 pounds and having to be away from family for 4 months, he was then drafted just weeks later by the Washington Capitals in the 2022 Draft. What is neat, is that during that time in Germany, he received a special call from an NHL legend, Mario Lemieux. Lemieux himself, battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during his infamous 92/93 season. A season where he was still won the art ross as the NHLs leading scorer with 160 points in 60 games.

Lemieux's message to Miroshnichenko?

"Life doesn't end. You're going to recover. Don't worry about it. Get it out of your head and go through recovery."

Pretty strong words

After recently tearing it up with the Hershey Bears this season, he finally got his opportunity just weeks ago. He was coming to the NHL.

Again, it was Lemieux who had reached out to Ivan nearly 2 years ago and so tonight, as the Capitals came into Pittsburgh, it was only fitting he would complete the circle against the Penguins and score his first career NHL goal! As for the game, on a day us Pens fans lost Jake Guentzel to a trade, it actually got even worse. They got absolutely obliterated by the Capitals with Ovechkin scoring goal 840. He's now just 55 away from Wayne Gretzky's record! I cover it all in todays NHL hockey video!

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