Home / News / Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov lead the Caps in goals. After scoring twice against the Devils, Brett Connolly now sits third.

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov lead the Caps in goals. After scoring twice against the Devils, Brett Connolly now sits third.

By Ian Oland

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January 19, 2018 2:06 am

Brett Connolly has occasionally been a healthy scratch during his two seasons with the Capitals due to inconsistent play. Yet when Barry Trotz has him out there, Conno keeps scoring goals at a consistent pace.

After scoring twice against the New Jersey Devils Thursday, the bottom-six forward has 12 goals on the season. That’s more than top-six forwards TJ Oshie (11), Jakub Vrana (10), and Nicklas Backstrom (9). He only trails Alex Ovechkin (28) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (13).

Connolly’s 12 goals in 37 games also puts him on pace to set a new career high in tallies (15) which he set last year after 66 games.

Goal 1

Connolly’s first goal came after he drove hard to the net. TJ Oshie put the puck on net. The biscuit deflected off a Devils player and found Conno’s stick for the layup goal.

Goal 2

Connolly’s second tally was clutch as it tied the game 3-3 with 3:48 left in the game. It would force overtime.

As Kuzy curled down the left wing, he sent a centering pass to Connolly hanging out in the slot. Connolly’s low shot eluded Keith Kinkaid’s pad and somehow found the back of the net.

“When you get out there and you get a chance to be out there and you’re down, you want to give it everything you’ve got on those shifts and do whatever you can to maybe get a scoring chance,” Connolly said after the game. “I was fortunate enough to get out there on a good spot and a good shooting area.

“I didn’t get much on the shot,” Connolly continued. “I think I got poked from behind. Another one along the ice. It seems like they’re going underneath the goalies legs. It was good to see that one to go in. It was big tying the game.”

Since Connolly has been paired with Lars Eller and TJ Oshie, the third line has found exhibited a chemistry that the other two scoring lines have not had lately.

“I thought we played pretty well tonight,” Connolly said. “I thought coming off the break, four days off, it’s tough to lose, but we battled back to get that point. It was a big point. Those games after the break are always tough. We’ll take the positives and move on to tomorrow.”

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Devils

S/T to this @TomGulittiNHL tweet which inspired the article.

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