Jakob Chychrun was the Washington Capitals’ entire offense against the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. While the Boca Raton, Florida native may have had hometown motivation fueling his two-goal performance, he could also likely credit some newfound dad strength.
Chychrun was absent from the team’s practice on Friday as his wife, Olivia Chychrun, gave birth to the couple’s first child. Twenty-four hours later, Chychrun was scoring his 16th and 17th goals of the season to try to push the Caps to a home-ice win over the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions.
The 27-year-old defender, who did not directly address the new addition to his family postgame, scored his first goal of the game just 2:04 into the second period. Chychrun received a slick feed from Aliaksei Protas down the left side of Florida’s defensive zone and ripped a snap shot by goaltender Daniil Tarasov’s glove.
“Dad Strength: Engaged,” the Capitals tweeted after the game-tying goal.
Chychrun scored his second of the night exactly eight minutes later to put the Capitals up 2-1 in the second period. John Carlson fed his defense partner the puck at the point, and Chychrun let go a wrist shot through traffic, namely Ivan Miroshnichenko setting a screen, and beat Tarasov to the blocker side.
Monumental Sports Network had Caps defender Rasmus Sandin mic’d up for the game and caught the Swede congratulating Chychrun on both his second goal and his leap into fatherhood.
“Atta boy, papa,” Sandin yelled on the team’s bench.
The two second-period markers give Chychrun 35 total points (17g, 18a) on the season, which ranks fifth-best on the Capitals. His 17 goals rank second among all NHL defenders, just one back of Columbus Blue Jackets rearguard Zach Werenski.
While Chychrun’s second goal put the Capitals in front by one, their lead was short-lived as the Panthers would go on to score four unanswered goals to win 5-2.
“I just think it’s always a lot more fun when you’re winning,” Chychrun said postgame. “Personal success or not, you’re always hoping that we come out with a win. Doesn’t feel too good right now.
“We just gotta find ways here to be better, be better for one another, just start to play with a little more desperation, urgency,” he added. “I think we always try so hard as a group, but it just seems right now everything is just a little bit off. We gotta find a way to get back to our game, and once we do that, I don’t think we have any worries about this group and what we’re capable of. We just gotta quickly get back to what we know we can do.”
Chychrun later acknowledged what he believes the Capitals do when they’re at their best. He scored both of his goals in the second period, where the Caps controlled 61.2 percent of the shot attempts, 66.7 percent of the shots on goal, 63 percent of the scoring chances, 72.7 percent of the high-danger chances, and 71.9 percent of the expected goals.
“We were just forechecking really well and holding onto pucks,” Chychrun said. “Just had a lot of good O-zone sequences, which, when we’ve got the puck down there, it always looks good away from our end.”
The loss to the Panthers wrapped up a three-game homestand at Capital One Arena. Chychrun and the rest of the Capitals will now set out for a six-game road trip, as the NHL grind does not stop even for life’s biggest events.
