The Washington Capitals desperately really a bounceback game in Carolina last night, and boy did they get it. The Carolina Hurricanes are typically a tough opponent for the Caps, but the Caps seemed to be operating on a completely different level than usual against them. They were dictating play for the majority of the game, their special teams showed up, and several players had killer individual efforts that fueled the win.
Logan Thompson was excellent in net and Connor McMichael made some great plays to keep the momentum going in the Caps’ favor. The fourth line got the scoring started with a goal from Brandon Duhaime, and then Dylan Strome scored what would end up being the game-winner in the second period. Alex Ovechkin sealed the deal with an empty netter and the 901st goal of his career (in the McNugget Minute, no less). However, the defining moment of last night’s game was Jakob Chychrun’s power play goal in the third period that restored Washington’s two-goal lead and just so happened to be the 100th goal of his career. Let’s unpack it…
27 seconds into the power play opportunity, Ryan Leonard and Sebastian Aho faced off at the dot to Freddie Andersen’s left. Aho won the faceoff and fed the puck back to Mike Reilly, who was clearly getting ready to clear the puck out of the zone from the corner. Chychrun had other plans, however, and made up a lot of ground quickly to get his stick on the clearing attempt. The whiffed clear bounced right to John Carlson, who kept it in at the point and found Leonard in the slot on a quick pass. Leonard’s shot bounced off Andersen’s pads (not a save to sniff at, for the record) and right to a waiting Chychrun after he won the race back to the net and the Canes left him all alone in front. Chychrun did not waste the opportunity and beat Andersen blocker-side with his 100th career goal.
This play started and ended with Jakob Chychrun and an unreal level of effort from him. His hustle led to a play that was not only key in last night’s game, but also very likely a key momentum-builder for the Capitals’ power play. Washington’s special teams have been struggling this season, especially the man-advantage, but they looked much better lat night. They went 1-for-5 on the power play. and even though they only scored once their puck movement was much improved. Concrete proof that whatever they were doing was working in the form of actually scoring a PPG will hopefully make a difference. It sure did last night!