‘The virus only works in a hotel room’: Alex Ovechkin’s model wife mocks NHL by seething that ‘only Russians’ broke Covid-19 rules

Alexander Ovechkin's wife, Anastasia Shubskaya, has spoken out in defense of the Russian Washington Capitals players who have been punished for breaching Covid-19 protocols, lambasting the NHL hours after her husband apologized.

The Caps captain and three of his teammates – Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Samsonov – were placed into quarantine and will miss at least four games.

The Russians were reportedly together in a hotel room without wearing face masks, violating the league’s Covid-19 rules requiring all players to stay alone in a single room with no guests allowed.

Later the Capitals' Peter Laviolette revealed that one of the four players tested positive, sending three other teammates into obligatory isolation.

“Right now, the players are in quarantine, and at this point I believe it's four games and then under review, and so we'll go from there,” the coach said on Thursday.

“There will probably be an announcement at some point. But I believe we're looking at that, and we'll look at everything,” he added. 

He hasn’t named the player who contracted the virus, but according to multiple reports it is the team’s goalkeeper, Samsonov, who was asymptomatic by the time the test was conducted.

Glamorous Shubskaya has fired back at the league’s Covid-19 restrictions, pointing out that all players remain in close contact during games and in their locker room.

“Of course, only Russian players of the Washington Capitals were together in the same hotel room,” Shubskaya wrote in what appeared to be a sarcastic summary.

“Of course, all of the other NHL players, when playing away, separate themselves from their teammates.

"Of course, you can't catch the virus when you and your teammates sit together on the bench, hug each other when they score a goal, or when they are all together in the lounge or locker room.

"Players can't get infected when they are at the restaurants, supermarkets, malls, etc. The virus only works in a hotel room.”

The Capitals were fined $100,000 for the violation. In a statement released on Wednesday, Ovechkin took responsibility for his actions, saying that he would “learn from this experience.”

“I regret my choice to spend time together with my teammates in our hotel room and away from the locker room areas,” he said.