Evgeni Kuznetsov recorded his first NHL point, an assist on
a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin, then added a pair of assists, including a
helper on what would be the game-winning goal by Mike Green in the Caps’ 4-3
win over the Vancouver Canucks last night at Verizon Center.
Not that the game was without its tense moments for the
Caps. Joel Ward got things going for the
home team mid-way through the first period.
It was a case of something we have not seen the Caps accomplish much
lately: speed in numbers through the neutral zone. Jason Chimera took a pass from Ward at the
red line and charged down the left side with Ward and Eric Fehr in tow, backing
off the Vancouver defense. As Chimera
got to the far edge of the left wing circle, he threw the puck to the front of
the net where Fehr was coming late.
Defenseman Ryan Stanton stuck his leg out to try to interrupt Fehr’s
shot. Goalie Eddie Lack looked as if he
was synced to Stanton, sticking his left pad out to defend the shot. Lack’s move left him lying on his side at the
edge of his crease and unable to defend when Fehr’s shot rebounded off the end
boards back onto his stick. Fehr took
another swipe at it, pushing the puck to the other side of the crease where
Ward had an empty net to shoot at. Ward
slid the puck in, and the Caps had the early lead.
Jordan Schroeder tied the game three minutes later after the
Caps had a “Keystone Caps" moment. Mike
Green collected a loose puck in the slot in front of goalie Jaroslav Halak and
tried to move it up to Alex Ovechkin circling to head up ice. The ice traffic controller was not doing his
job, though. Jay Beagle was just a few
feet in front of Ovechkin and in his path, and Dan Hamhuis was closing to
defend for the Canucks. A mid-ice collision ensued, Ovechkin hitting both
Beagle and Hamhuis, sending both to the ice.
In the ensuring confusion, with the puck finding its way to the left
wing boards, Zack Kassian found it and backhanded it to Schroeder in the high
slot. Schroeder stepped in and wristed
it over Halak’s glove and the game was tied going into the first intermission.
The it became The Kuznetsov Show. In the ninth minute of the second period and
Tom Sestito off for Vancouver on a hooking penalty, Joel Ward won a faceoff in
the Canucks’ end to John Carlson at the right point. Carlson slid the puck to Alex Ovechkin at the
left wing circle, but Ovechkin’s one-time went wide off the glass. Kuznetsov recovered the puck and assumed the
Nicklas Backstrom position at the right wing wall looking over the play. Kuznetsov sent the puck out to Carlson at the
point, and Carlson reloaded the rifle on the left wing, Ovechkin one-timed
Carlson’s pass past Lack, and the Caps had the lead, Kuznetsov recording his
first NHL point.
Four minutes later it was the fourth line’s turn to
shine. One could not have drawn this up
any prettier. Mike Green backed off to
his own blue line to control the tempo of the play and then slid the puck across to defenseman
partner Jack Hillen. Hillen sent the
puck up to Jay Beagle steaming through the neutral zone. As Beagle crossed the red line he found
Kuznetsov on the left wing at the Vancouver blue line. Kuznetsov skated down the boards and wound up
as if to let fly with a slap shot.
Instead, he sent a slap pass to Tom Wilson skating through the right
wing faceoff circle. Wilson deftly handled the hard pass and wristed the puck
over Lack’s glove into the top corner, and the Caps had a two-goal lead going
into the second intermission.
Two-goal lead…two-goal lead.
You know what is coming.
Vancouver wiped that out in the span of three minutes early in the third
period. Chris Higgins got the comeback started when he finessed the puck around
defenseman Connor Carrick at the left wing wall in the Caps’ end, then found
the late trailer Shawn Matthias for an uncontested wrist shot in the slot that
eluded Halak. Then it was Niklas Jensen
taking a pass from Higgins, firing a snap shot under the arm of Karl Alzner trying
to block the shot, and celebrating his first NHL goal when the puck found its
way past Halak’s blocker to tie the game at 3-3.
The Caps had one more goal in them, though. It started with Kuznetsov using his skating
ability and long reach to circle the puck around the Vancouver net with
Alexander Edler trying to separate him from the biscuit. Circling out from Lack’s right, Kuznetsov
snapped the puck to the front of the net where Nicklas Backstrom deadened it
with his skate. Backstrom skated the
puck back around behind the net and sent it out to Mike Green in the high
slot. Green dialed up an old favorite, a
wrist shot that went high over Lack’s glove and into the top of the net for the
game-winner, Caps 4-3.
Other stuff…
-- We told of an instance in a recent game against the Pittsburgh Penguins of the Penguins treating the Caps like skating drill
pylons, moving the puck among all five skaters in moving the puck the length of
the ice for a goal over a six second span.
Well, give credit where it is due.
The Caps did just that on the Tom Wilson goal. Mike Green, Jack Hillen, Jay Beagle, Evgeny
Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson – the goal scorer – all touched the puck on a play
that took eight seconds to complete.
-- Kuznetsov is already tied for 20th on the team
in assists.
-- When the Caps gave up a two-goal lead in the third period
it was the 12th two-goal lead they surrendered this season, the
fifth time they did it in the third period.
-- In case you are wondering, Evgeny Kuznetsov is not the
youngest Cap ever to record three or more assists in a game. Not even close. Nicklas Backstrom, for example, did it eight
times by the time he reached Kuznetsov’s age (shoulda come earlier, kid). But doing it in his third game with the
Caps? Yes, that’s special.
-- The Caps have had their lunch taken and eaten in front of
them in the faceoff circle lately. Last
night it was the Caps’ turn to dine at the opponent’s expense, winning 35 of 58
draws (60.3 percent). Nicklas Backstrom
won 13 of 14 faceoffs (92.9 percent). He
lost the only draw he took against Jordan Schroeder for his only loss on the
night.
-- The Caps killed all three shorthanded situations they
faced. It made it two games in a row,
the first time they were perfect on penalty killing in consecutive games since
February 4/6. And it was there that the
Caps established a foothold for success.
Halak turned away five Vancouver shots on two power plays in the first
15 minutes in the first period.
-- Score effects… Vancouver dominated the overall possession
statistics for the game, a 60.2 percent Corsi-for percentage and a 58.4 percent
Fenwick-for percentage. At even strength
it was only slightly less dominant: 55.6/55.2).
But in close score situations?
The Caps led here, a 55.6 percent Corsi-for percentage and 59.0
Fenwick-for percentage. Another way to
saying that the Caps let a club back into the game when they had it in hand.
-- Is there something to this keeping shots to the outside
thing? Of the 74 shot attempts allowed
to Vancouver, 20 of them came from defensemen.
Then again, the Canucks had 20 shot attempts by defensemen for the
evening, the Caps had a total of 21 shots on goal for the game.
-- Tom Wilson… five shot attempts, four hits, three shots on
goal, plus-two, one goal. A partridge in
a pear tree was waiting for him in his locker after the game.
-- Kuznetsov gets the kudos for his three-point night, but
almost as noteworthy is that nine other Caps recorded points (all
singles). That’s spreading things
around.
-- For Mike Green, his goal was his first even strength goal
since January 28th and his first game winner since that same date
when he had a pair of goals in a 5-4 overtime win over Buffalo.
-- The three goals scored by Vancouver was only the second
time they reached the three-goal mark in their last 13 games. They lost both times (the other a 7-4 loss to
the New York Islanders).
In the end…
They sure made it interesting, more so than perhaps they
needed. But two points is two
points. It means that the Caps have
closed to within a point of Philadelphia for the last playoff spot, although
the Flyers hold three games in hand on the Caps. And that means that there is more work – a lot
more work – to do. But Washington might
have introduced a new player in the band.
Evgeny Kuznetsov did it with his stick on the Wilson goal and with his
skates on the Green game-winner, displaying a virtuosity the club certainly
could use going down the stretch.
Kool.
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