On a night where Alex Ovechkin scored a hat trick and six of the game’s seven goals were scored by Russians, of course the prettiest play of the evening came from a pair of comrades.
6:31 into the third period, Caps defenseman Dmitry Orlov carried the puck into the offensive zone and surged ahead of a surprised Jay Bouwmeester. As Evgeny Kuznetsov drove hard to the net, Orlov hit the center with a breathtaking backhanded pass, which the Chelyabinsk native tapped home for his third goal of the season.
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Kuzy and Orly sneak right by the D. #CapsGiving on @csnma pic.twitter.com/LVssb1hZ5K
— #CapsGiving (@Capitals) November 24, 2016
That’s a thing of beauty.
Kuznetsov celebrated the goal by bringing back the finger-twirl celly he made famous last season.
Kuznetsov finished the night with a goal and an assist along with four shots on goal. It was the most shots on goal Kuznetsov has had in a game since the Caps’ third game of the season against Colorado.
After the game, Barry Trotz gushed about the 24-year-old, all-star center’s play of late.
Head Coach Barry Trotz addresses the media after tonight's 4-3 victory over the Blues. #CapsGiving pic.twitter.com/QkkVi0bYbh
— #CapsGiving (@Capitals) November 24, 2016
That was the Kuzy that, I think that we all see that he can be. I thought Kuzy was really decisive in how he was going to play today. There was no clutter in his game. He just said, ‘I’m going to play, I’m going to play [in a] straight line, I’m going to take pucks to the net.’ I thought he got to the interior. Because he forced himself in there, everything opened up. He has such great vision. So when he does that, he opens up the whole ice to himself. When he’s challenging seams, he takes it in there and then he can dish it off and he can do what he does. He’s hard to contain when he’s moving his feet like that.
We’ve had some discussions. No question. As players, they figure it out. Coaches/players deal with so many things. When you get an opportunity and you figure out, there’s some good karma there. A young player having some stretches where he’s not playing we expect him to play or how he himself [expects] to play, from that standpoint, I think we’ve had some discussions. He’s been getting better and better. You could see he was going to have a breakout sooner or later as long as he stayed with the program. And he has. It was good to see Kuzy back again, playing the way he’s capable of.
“I’m just trying to go to net,” Kuznetsov said to CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Tarik El-Bashir in the locker room. “I know if I will be open [Orlov] will give it to me. So my job is just get open. It’s tough play by him. At same time, it’s great play.”
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