Have you ever seen a Picasso in real life? You can’t help but be struck by its beauty. You’re smiling – the greatness of the moment is hitting you. Forget the next exhibit, you tell yourself, I just want to stare at this painting forever. Uh oh, now you’re at the gift shop and you’re buying a print so that you can put it on your wall.

I know that’s a long rambling intro for a meaningless preseason highlight post, but that’s how I felt about this first period primary assist by Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Video

The power-play goal came at the 11:02 mark of the first period and gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

After Tom Wilson’s pass got deflected, Kuzy picked up the puck in open ice, skated through several Hurricanes players, and found Jakub Vrana wide open on the far side of the crease.

Kuzy saw Vrana all the way. All V had to do was keep his stick on the ice. Which he did!

The goal was Vrana’s second of the preseason and the beautiful assist was Kuzy’s second of the exhibition season.

[chef kiss]