Ilya Kovalchuk scored his first goal and tallied his first three-point game as a Capital, Thursday against the New York Rangers. Two days later, Kovy, notorious for his heavy shot and superb stickhandling ability, brought the body against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Russian forward levied four hits against the Penguins including this gem against forward Brandon Tanev.
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WHAM!
On the day, Kovalchuk levied four hits, fourth-most among all Capitals players. The players who had more included Tom Wilson (7), Alex Ovechkin (7), and Lars Eller (6). Evgeny Kuznetsov threw four hits as well.
The Capitals being a physical team is a key to their success, according to head coach Todd Reirden. The Capitals massively out-hit the Penguins 45-26 on Saturday.
“Physical teams, when you continually put the puck behind the team and you go in and finish their defenseman for large periods of time, then eventually you’re going to break the opposition,” Reirden said recently. “That’s one of our keys to success. It may not come early on but you have to continue to play that way and eventually, you’ll get gains out of it.”
Since being traded to the Capitals, Kovalchuk has assimilated well posting four points and 11 hits in six games.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Penguins
Headline photo courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
