To realize that dream Friday, lining up against Ovechkin and the Capitals, took some patience — and some urgency.
A second-round pick (No. 53) in the 2020 NHL Draft, Ponomarev finished his major junior career with Shawinigan of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League in 2020-21 before splitting the 2021-22 season between Moskow Spartak in the Kontinental Hockey League and Chicago in the American Hockey League. He appeared ready to take the next step to the NHL after leading Chicago with 24 goals in 64 AHL games last season and spent the summer working out at Carolina’s practice facility with a group of players, including Burns, to prepare for training camp.
But he injured his knee during the first week of training camp, ending his chance to make the Hurricanes’ opening night roster.
“He was working so hard, it was just fun,” Burns said. “It was a great energy to be around, and to have that injury happen and see you lose all that work that he put in, it’s tough. I can’t imagine for him how tough it was because for us you feel bad for him.”
When Ponomarev was healthy, he went back to the AHL and had 20 points (six goals, 14 assists) in 22 games with Tucson (two games) and Chicago (20 games) while waiting to get the call.
It came at 10 a.m. Friday, when Ponomarev was at the rink in Chicago. With forwards Stefan Noesen (illness) and Martin Necas (upper-body injury) questionable to play against the Capitals, the Hurricanes needed Ponomarev to get to Washington quickly.
After skating for about 20 minutes, Ponomarev headed home to pick up some clothes and went to the airport for a 1:40 p.m. CT flight to Washington. He sat on the plane, checking the time repeatedly and wondering if he’d make it in time to play against the Capitals.
His flight landed around 4:30 p.m. ET, and he arrived at Capital One Arena roughly 30 minutes later for a game that started at 7 p.m.
“Pretty long flight because it’s nervous that, you know, you are going to come to the rink right before the (team) meeting,” he said. “It was like five minutes before it. I think sometimes you’re making your mindset that you are late in the first game, so you didn’t know how you were going to play because usually you come in at the (right) time.”