The last time the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks met, Ryan Leonard left the game after a hit from Jacob Trouba that kept him out of the lineup for nearly three weeks. Would tonight bring revenge for Washington and Leonard? Spoiler alert: it absolutely would!
Plus: Washington’s second line of Connor McMichael-Justin Sourdif-Ryan Leonard was firing on all cylinders tonight. They combined for a whopping eleven points: Sourdif with 3G/2A, McMichael with 4A, and Leonard with 1G/1A.
Minus: The Capitals fell victim to their usual demons: taking their foot off the gas and letting their opponent back in the game. After going up 5-1 less than halfway through the game, Anaheim scored the next three goals to make it 5-4 with some sloppy defense from Washington.
Caps Player of the Game: Who else but Justin Sourdif? He scored his first career hat trick tonight with two goals in the first period and one in the second. Per Capitals PR, he’s the ninth Caps rookie to score a hat trick and the first since some guy named Alex Ovechkin on January 13, 2006 at…Anaheim.