Zach Fucale didn’t take long to earn his first KHL win. The former Capitals goaltender made his regular-season debut with Traktor Chelyabinsk on Saturday, recording a 2-1 victory over Lada Tolgliatti to open the season.

Fucale already defeated Lada during the preseason, recording a shutout with former teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov watching from the stands to win the Chelyabinsk Governor’s Cup.

First KHL game and first win for Zach @Fucale31! pic.twitter.com/LV3fCKxz6I

— KHL (@khl_eng) September 2, 2023

Fucale surrendered an early unassisted goal to Nikita Popugayev after a bad turnover by Tratkor in the defensive zone.

Popugayev’s goal came 3:37 into the first period. Fucale would hold Lada goalless for the remaining 56:23 of the game, ultimately stopping 31 of 32 shots. With two Traktor goals early in the third, Fucale recorded his first KHL victory.

After the game, head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin praised the goaltender’s performance.

“Zach plays all the games at a high level,” he said, translated by Google Translate. ”This match showed that all those mistakes that we made in defense, he confidently cleaned up.”

Fucale signed a one-year deal with Traktor over the summer after winning the Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears as the team’s backup goaltender. Kuznetsov, who played for Traktor before joining the NHL, recommended Fucale to the team and advised him before the move.

He even gave Fucale some extra motivation ahead of the season, jokingly warning him what would happen if he didn’t play well.

“I told him that if he played badly, they would burn [his] car,” Kuznetsov told Sports.ru in late August.

In an interview with RB Sport, Fucale took the threat in stride.

“I do not have a car,” he said. ”Which is good in this case. The main thing for me is to play in such a way that no one has a desire to burn my car.”

And after Saturday’s performance, Fucale should have nothing to worry about.

Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB