Evgeny Kuznetsov has finally erased the zero in his personal goal column after thirteen games this season. The Capitals’ number-one center struck twice on Monday against the Oilers. His second goal ended up being the game-winner.
The talented Russian added two assists in just his second multi-point performance this season. He joked with reporters postgame about his unlucky cold start.
“I’m good for another ten games now,” Kuznetsov said. “Definitely tomorrow morning will be better than last eight mornings, probably. I felt like we play good but not good enough for wins lately, but this win will give us big breath. We can breathe a little bit and coaches can finally show us some positive moments because that’s big when you come next morning and instead look to those mistakes, we can watch some positives.
“I’m hoping that we’re going to build after this game for sure because that’s a pretty good team,” Kuzy continued. “And I felt like when we give up a goal, we were never giving up. We were always positive on the bench, always support each other because we’re missing a lot of guys, a lot of D guys and they been step up tonight.”
Kuznetsov recorded his first marker of the season with the Caps on a five-on-three advantage in the second period. He set up backdoor and received a cross-crease pass from Dylan Strome that he put into a wide-open net.
Kuznetsov’s second goal on the night came via an absolutely gorgeous pass from his good buddy Alex Ovechkin. Ovi slipped the puck between his legs on a power play two-on-one rush to a hard-charging Kuznetsov who slammed it home.
“Yea, for sure, I knew he was gonna pass,” Kuznetsov said postgame.
Ovechkin seemed to turn back time in the victory, dazzling the crowd with pretty offensive moves seemingly every other shift. Kuzy was asked about his countryman’s efforts in the game.
“Who, big man?,” he replied. “That’s why he’s sore already.”
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
