A very expressive Jakub Vrana scored his 23rd goal of the season against the Montreal Canadiens, Monday night. The second-period tally, which put the Capitals up 3-2, ended up being the game-winner.
The goal was Vrana’s 22nd at even strength, which is currently the third-most in the NHL. Vrana only trails Auston Matthews (25) and Alex Ovechkin (23) in the category.
V also tallied a brilliant assist on Tom Wilson’s first-period goal, giving him his ninth multi-point game of the season.
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Vrana scored after Evgeny Kuznetsov stole the puck from Shea Weber, the man who won the NHL’s Hardest Shot Competition over the weekend, and slid the puck to TJ Oshie as he was falling to the ice. Oshie dropped the puck to Vrana who fired it past Carey Price for the goal.
“[T]hat goal was a great forecheck by both of my lineys,” Vrana said. “Kuzy won the puck there and Osh just left it for me. The line is clicking pretty good. We create chances all the time.”
After denting the twine, Vrana fell over and his face turned into the astonished emoji. 😲
The goal was nice and all, but how about the celly? 😂 @VranaJakub pic.twitter.com/tQCS6EVEpz
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 28, 2020
“I just fell down there and I just look all around me,” Vrana said of his reaction. “Everyone was coming at me. I was just laying down. I don’t know. That was just part of the emotion. I can’t really explain it.”
a perfect reaction pic.twitter.com/eje7FaRfXi
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) January 28, 2020
Vrana now has a nine-game point streak.
Jakub Vrana extended his point streak to nine games and matched the longest such run by a @Capitals player in 2019-20, joining Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson from Oct. 8 – 24, 2019 (both w/ 9 GP). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/JcShqd4KVN
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 28, 2020
Later, on the bench, Vrana turned into the thinking face emoji as the Capitals game-planned for the final minutes. 🤔
🤔 🤔 🤔 pic.twitter.com/0teud3nQUD
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 28, 2020
Perhaps he was wondering how the Capitals were so dominant offensively. The Caps put 40 shots on Carey Price, without their best offensive player, Alex Ovechkin, who was suspended for skipping the All-Star Game.
“It’s a big goal-scoring loss there. We stick together as a team,” Vrana said.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Canadiens
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
