The Russian Hockey Federation says it is calling up star forward Alex Ovechkin and Washington Capitals teammates Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov to play in the world championships.
The Capitals lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the U.S. National Hockey League playoffs on May 10, freeing the players to join the Russian team in the championship games playing out in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
For Ovechkin, it will be his 12th career world championship games. He joins a Russian team which has struggled at times on home ice, losing a game at the open of the championships to the Czech Republic.
Russia then beat Kazakhstan and Latvia. Its next game is against Denmark on May 12 in Moscow.