The Washington Capitals handled the Vegas Golden Knights to earn their first win of the season on Tuesday night. But you’ll remember this game for something else. This was the night of the Vranaissance.
After a three and a half year break, Jakub Vrana returned to score for the Caps, opening us up with a mighty slapshot off a great takeaway by Mangiapane. Victor Olofsson tied it up on the power play after some fancy Vegas passing.
From point blank, Tom Wilson got a power-play goal of his own in the second period. Aliaksei Protas caught a great pass from Ovechkin to extend the Caps lead, further extended by Jakub Chychrun’s first with the team, made possible by Nic Dowd’s great rush. Vegas’ fancy passing struck again soon after – this time with Jack Eichel finishing it off.
The Caps were on their heels in the third period, but they kept the puck out of the net. Caps win 4-2.
- I’m not trying to hit you up for tech support in the game recap comments, but I need some tech support. My Comcast Xfinity keeps glitching out, losing picture quality. It’s not the coaxial cable; I swapped it out and even replaced the connector in the wall. I guess I’ll try replacing HDMI cable next, but for now at least I’m frustrated. If I get any facts wrong or if my analysis is hackneyed, it’s Comcast’s fault. Not mine.
- Alex Ovechkin hit 700 career assists. That’s what we’re all here for: Alex Ovechkin assists. Hold on, let me update my Alex Ovechkin assist counter; I have it sitting right in front of my glitchy-ass TV. Great pass though.
Even Pro knew that was one #Gr8 dish pic.twitter.com/q4KOmHHvZX
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 16, 2024
- I really like Aliaksei Protas getting top-line opportunities, but you probably know that by now. Pro took Ovechkin’s opposite wing with Strome in the middle. Ovechkin did not, after much intrigue, play on the right wing as he had in practice. Masterful gambit, Mr. Carbery.
- After going without a shot-on-goal in his first game, Ovechkin put six on target tonight.
- Tom Wilson has two goals in two games. Your preseason predictions put him at 22.6 goals once the season’s done, but personally I think it’s going to be 82. You’d be an absolute fool if you thought he’d get only 13. Wouldn’t want to be the person who made that prediction. 🤡
- Aileen watched enough of the game with me to a) see the Jake goal, and b) say “uh, those pads looks like the Confederate flag.” So, yeah, everyone is seeing it. Hope Logan Thompson‘s new gear is on its way soon. He was good tonight, by the way. Also good tonight: Aileen’s minestrone.
- Hendrix Lapierre was not on the ice for the hero’s goal. He visibly struggled again. He didn’t get a shift until the eighth minute of the third period. So no, I don’t feel great about that 3C spot right now, but it’s still early days.
- Vegas forward Victor Olofsson got hurt in the third period, falling into Dylan McIlrath during a collision along the boards.
- I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m really liking Nic Dowd and the fourth line. I’m not gonna say more though. Learned my lesson from the Tom Wilson affair.
midseason form in this tie/jacket combo #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/pHgEjX591j
— RMNB (@rmnb) October 15, 2024
I’ve never been secretive about it, but I’ll say it outright here: I love Jakub Vrana. I loved him from the jump, I loved him after he left DC, and I loved him even when he was struggling. Now that he’s back and thriiiiiiiiiiiiiving, and I’m elated. We had a hockey crying moment tonight.
It’s worth revisiting what led to Jake’s exit in the first place. The most concise way to put it is this: Laviolette hated his guts. But that’s the past. The present is so much more interesting. In a lot of ways, the Caps season is too chaotic to wrap my head around so far. But the return of our sweet little cherub (as Andy from Young Rising Sons [new song drops tomorrow, this is not sponsored] put it) is part of that chaos, but at least with him and at least for tonight you can feel real good about it. I feel fantastic.
Stars in town on Thursday. If trends continue, the temperature in DC will fall to absolute zero by then, so make sure your radiator is in working order.
