Russia’s top sports stars are backing Vladimir Putin in this weekend’s presidential election

MOSCOW (AP) Most Youth John Tavares Jersey , but not all, of Russia’s top sports stars are backing Vladimir Putin in this weekend’s presidential election.Ahead of Sunday’s vote, a host of Olympic gold medalists and NHL player Alex Ovechkin have thrown their support behind Putin. Ovechkin even launched a ”Putin Team” campaign on social media.On the other side, there’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov.The former No. 1-ranked tennis player is the only major Russian athlete to back opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been barred from taking part in the election.With Putin poised to win as much as 70 percent of the vote, according to state pollsters, Kafelnikov told The Associated Press he won’t vote. Navalny has called on his supporters to boycott what he sees as an unfair election.”You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand (that Putin will win),” said the 44-year-old Kafelnikov, who stopped playing professionally in 2003. ”My choice, who I was willing to give my voice to at the election, he was not allowed to run for the presidency.”Sports stars have long been a fixture in Russian political campaigns, while boxer Nikolai Valuev and tennis player Marat Safin are among a host of athletes who have represented the United Russia party in parliament. Kafelnikov said he, too, was approached in 2003 to take a parliamentary seat for the party, but declined because he felt he wouldn’t be allowed to express his real views.”After two days thinking, I thought something is a bit dodgy and I don’t want to be involved,” he said. ”My voice isn’t going to be counted as whatever I think. So I said I don’t want to be there just for pressing the button (to vote).”Athletes are being increasingly exploited as symbols of prestige for those in power, Kafelnikov said.”I always thought sports and politics should not collide together on the same path, should be completely separate. Unfortunately as of late … someone’s using the professional athletes for their own benefit,” he said. ”I’ve been always open-minded and people obviously know that Yevgeny Kafelnikov is not for sale. There is no chance that I could sell myself for something like this.”I’m sure other athletes who are supporting so-called Putin’s team, they do have a choice but they’ve chosen the path which they’re comfortable with. I’m not going to judge each one, why they did this.”Kafelnikov’s 24,000 followers on Twitter are treated to a mix of political commentary, occasional banter between him and Navalny, and copious chat about Kafelnikov’s beloved Spartak Moscow soccer team.It’s a contrast to Ovechkin’s Instagram, where the Washington Capitals forward launched his Putin Team in November. It started as a loose affiliation of athletes and other celebrities sharing a hashtag, but has since become a formal campaign organization which held a rally Sunday in central Moscow’s Gorky Park.Ovechkin said in November he had ”a good relationship” with Putin, who gave Ovechkin and his wife a tea set when they married last July.”I just support my country Authentic Mitchell Marner Jersey , you know? That’s where I’m from, my parents live there, all my friends,” Ovechkin said. ”Like every human from different countries, they support their president.”Golos, a non-governmental organization which monitors possible election violations, flagged up Sunday’s Putin Team rally. Promises of free gifts for attendees could be seen as bribery, the watchdog said.Putin Team did not respond to a request for comment on that accusation. It also hasn’t said who funds the organization, which has offered valuable prizes such as GoPro cameras to its supporters.Besides Ovechkin’s group, Putin also has soccer goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, heavyweight boxer Alexander Povetkin and biathlon champion Anton Shipulin as registered campaign surrogates.Putin held a rally on March 3 at Moscow’s vast Luzhniki Stadium, which will host the soccer World Cup final in July. With him was 15-year-old figure skating gold medalist Alina Zagitova, fresh from the Olympics in Pyeongchang, and the entire gold medal-winning men’s hockey team. Zagitova’s participation prompted concerns from some opposition activists that the Putin campaign was improperly using a child for electioneering.Putin himself practiced judo in his youth, and some of his former partners went on to become billionaires under his rule. Now he tends to play hockey, often scoring numerous goals in televised exhibition games against former NHL players.Many Russian athletes rely on the government for their livelihood. In most Olympic sports, the Sports Ministry wields wide-ranging power over funding, and even hires and fires individual coaches. Many of Russia’s top clubs in soccer and hockey are funded by state-controlled companies.It’s hard to say exactly how many Russian athletes back Putin wholeheartedly or have opposition sympathies.Kafelnikov said he doesn’t believe athletes are coerced into backing the government, but added he’s in contact with other opposition-minded athletes who don’t talk politics openly.”I’m sure there are plenty. I’m hoping so,” he said. ”There are some who share my thoughts toward what’s happening and what’s going to happen. I do have some supporters.” SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) Alex Ovechkin added to his NHL lead with two goals on the night he tied the Washington record for most games played, and the Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Saturday.Evgeny Kuznetsov scored 50 seconds into the game and had two assists. Andre Burakovsky and Lars Eller also had goals for Washington, which leapfrogged Pittsburgh and moved back into first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals had lost two in a row and five of seven.Ovechkin’s 37th goal came on the power play with 9:47 remaining after Buffalo closed to 2-1 on Sam Reinhart’s goal 14 seconds into the third period. Ovechkin redirected a shot past Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner with 1:24 left for his 38th goal.The 32-year-old Ovechkin played in his 983rd NHL game, tying Calle Johansson for most in Capitals history. Ovechkin holds franchise records for goals (596) and points (1,105).Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for his third win in three starts. Grubauer’s previous victory came against Buffalo, 3-2 on Monday.PANTHERS 6, PENGUINS 5SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Evgenii Dadonov scored with 1:53 to play to complete a hat track and give Florida the victory over Pittsburgh.Dadonov beat goalie Matt Murray on a one-timer off Aleksander Barkov’s pass for the winner. Dadonov has 18 goals this season.Vincent Trocheck Morgan Rielly Jersey , Jamie McGinn and Derek MacKenzie also scored. Barkov had three assists, Keith Yandle added two, and Roberto Luongo made 24 saves.Evgeni Malkin had two goals and an assist for the Penguins, and Carl Hagelin, Patric Hornqvist and Bryan Rust added goals. Tristan Jarry made 13 saves for Pittsburgh before he was replaced in the second period. Murray had 11 saves in relief.LIGHTNING 4, CANADIENS 3, SOMONTREAL (AP) – Brayden Point scored in regulation and added the shootout winner and Tampa Bay regained the top spot in the NHL with the victory over Montreal.Nikita Kucherov and Ryan Callahan also scored in regulation to help the Lightning (42-17-3) win their third straight and move a point ahead of idle Vegas for the overall NHL lead.Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves for his league-leading 36th victory of the season.Byron Froese, Joe Morrow and Max Pacioretty scored for Montreal.MAPLE LEAFS 4, BRUINS 3TORONTO (AP) – Ron Hainsey broke a tie with 1:23 left to give Toronto its franchise record-tying ninth straight home victory.Hainsey’s one-timed William Nylander’s pass past goalie Tuuka Rask for his fourth goal of the season.Toronto moved a point ahead of Boston for the second seed in the Atlantic Division.Nazem Kadri scored twice, Mitch Marner had a goal and three assists, and Nylander had two assists. Frederik Andersen made 23 saves to improve to 10-1-0 against the Bruins.Brad Marchand scored twice, and Jake DeBrusk also connected for Boston.RED WINGS 3, HURRICANES 1DETROIT (AP) – Henrik Zetterberg scored the go-ahead goal in the second period to tie Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay on Detroit’s career list and the Red Wings went on to beat Carolina.Zetterberg’s ninth goal this season was the 335th of his career. In the franchise’s record books, he trails just four greats: Gordie Howe, Steve Yzerman, Alex Delvecchio and Sergei Fedorov.Danny DeKeyser gave Detroit a 1-0 lead late in the first period and Trevor Daley scored to provide a two-goal cushion late in the second period. Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for the Red Wings, allowing only Noah Hanifin’s second-period goal.JETS 5, STARS 3DALLAS (AP) – Patrik Laine scored two goals, Dustin Byfuglien had three assists and Winnipeg scored five goals in the second period.Michael Hutchinson, who has won both of his NHL starts this season, gave up Tyler Pitlick’s goal just 10 seconds into the game, but finished with 33 saves.Winnipeg moved into a tie with Nashville atop the Central Division. The Jets have outscored opponents 29-12 in winning five of their last six.Nikolaj Ehlers, Toby Enstrom and Mark Scheifele added goals for the Jets. Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov also scored for Dallas.FLAMES 5, AVALANCHE 1CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Rookie Jon Gillies made 28 saves for his second straight victory, and Mikael Backlund had a goal and two assists in Calgary’s victory over Colorado.Troy Brouwer added a goal and an assist to help the Flames move past idle St. Louis into the final Western Conference wild-card spot. Michael Frolik, Mark Giordano and Sean Monahan also scored, and Matthew Tkachuk had two assists.Called up from Stockton of the AHL with starting goalie Mike Smith sidelined by a lower-body injury Womens Nazem Kadri Jersey , Gillies made his second straight start and fourth appearance of the season. The 6-foot-6 former Providence College goalie beat Arizona 5-2 on Thursday night. Before the game, Smith was placed on injured reserve.Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado.DEVILS 2, ISLANDERS 1NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Kyle Palmieri scored two third-period goals and New Jersey opened some daylight on New York in the race for a wild-card playoff berth.Taylor Hall extended his NHL-best points streak to 14 games with two assists, and Keith Kinkaid made 30 saves as the Devils maintained a five-point lead over Columbus in the race for the top wild-card spot, and increased their lead over the ninth-place Islanders to seven points.The win snapped a two-game losing streak and allowed the sellout crowd to go home happy after the career scoring leader Patrik Elias’s No. 26 jersey was retired in a pregame ceremony.Jordan Eberle scored in the second period for the Islanders.COYOTES 2, DUCKS 0GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Antti Raanta made 26 saves for his second shutout in three games and Arizona held off Anaheim.Max Domi’s empty-net goal sealed the win long after Jason Demers gave the Coyotes the lead less than six minutes into the game.Arizona won for the sixth time in eight games and ended the Ducks‘ four-game winning streak. The Coyotes had won four straight before falling to Calgary at home Thursday night.FLYERS 5, SENATORS 3OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Brandon Manning had a goal and two assists and Philadelphia beat Ottawa for its fifth consecutive victory.Ivan Provorov, Robert Hagg, Claude Giroux and Nolan Patrick also scored, and Petr Mrazek made 25 saves in his second start since being acquired in a trade with Detroit.Mike Hoffman, Ryan Dzingel and Matt Duchene scored for Ottawa.BLUE JACKETS 3, BLACKHAWKS 2COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Josh Anderson scored in the third period, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 31 shots and Columbus beat Chicago.Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist, and Cam Atkinson also scored for the Blue Jackets.David Kampf and Tomas Jurco scored for last-place Chicago in the second leg of a back-to-back. Rookie Anton Forsberg had 26 saves against his former team.OILERS 4, KINGS 3LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ryan Strome’s empty-net goal at 19:01 of the third period and a successful coach’s challenge with less than 10 seconds left gave Edmonton a victory over Los Angeles.Dustin Brown tipped in Drew Doughty’s shot to cut it to 4-3 with 18 seconds remaining, and the Kings appeared to tie it on another goal by Brown with 9.9 seconds to go. The play was initially ruled no goal on the ice and changed after a video review, but the Oilers challenged for goaltender interference and the goal was waived off.Anton Slepyshev, Leon Draisaitl and Jujhar Khaira scored for the Oilers, who kept the Kings from moving back into playoff position. Cam Talbot made 30 saves.Michael Cammalleri, who started the season with the Kings before being traded to the Oilers on Nov. 14, recorded three assists and has 10 in his last 11 games.Tyler Toffoli and Tobias Rieder also scored for the Kings, who are two points behind Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division and two points behind Anaheim for the second Western Conference wild card.—