Jakob Chychrun was the Washington Capitals’ hero against the Nashville Predators.
Not only did Chychrun skate nearly 30 minutes in the game with John Carlson injured, but he was productive in those minutes, too. He scored twice, including the game-winning goal, and tallied three points — his 11th career game with three points or more.
Chychrun’s first goal was ridiculous and reminiscent of an Alex Ovechkin highlight-reel goal early in his career.
Chychrun passed the puck to himself off the wall while doing a spin-o-rama, skating around Predators forward Tyson Jost like he was a cone. The Capitals’ rearguard then took the puck into the zone, where he ripped a snap shot from 47 feet away past goaltender Justus Annunen. The goal came 8:42 into the second period and gave the Capitals a 3-0 lead.
“DEFENSEMAN GOAL OF THE YEAR CONTENDER 🤯,” wrote Bleacher Report’s hockey account on Instagram.
The goal was somewhat similar to Ovechkin’s insane goal against the Montreal Canadiens on February 18, 2009, where he passed the puck to himself off the wall to spring himself past defenseman Roman Hamrlik.
The tally was Chychrun’s 20th goal of the season, giving him back-to-back 20-goal campaigns for the first time in his career. He is the second defenseman in franchise history to hit 20 in two consecutive seasons, joining Larry Murphy, who did so in 1985-86 and 1986-87.
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Chychrun said when asked by Monumental Sports Network’s Al Koken what the milestone meant to him. “I try to do whatever I can out there for the boys. It’s a heck of a group we have. We just can’t wait to make a push here and fight to get into the playoffs.”
Chychrun later scored a huge insurance goal on a third-period power play, walking down broadway and firing an 88 MPH wrister past Annunen. The goal gave the Caps a 4-2 lead with 7:49 remaining.
The game marked Chychrun’s fourth multi-goal game of the season, and his 21 goals, at the Olympic break, are the most among NHL defensemen.
“The best compliment I could pay him is just he’s scoring not only big goals in big moments, but they’re essentially individual efforts,” Spencer Carbery said. “It’s just him taking a puck in a certain scenario, and whether it’s him walking the blue line, whether it’s him beating someone like he did tonight, and then stepping in. You don’t have a lot of players who can do that in your roster. No one does. Those goals where he can create something out of nothing are huge goals. It’s so hard to score in this league, and for him to score 20 back-to-back, another phenomenal year this year.”
In total, Chychrun skated a game-high 29:21 and led the Capitals with 7 shots and 11 shot attempts.
Chychrun’s 21 goals are already a career high with 23 games remaining in the season. It’s the most goals by a Capitals defenseman in a single season since Mike Green scored 31 in 2008-09.
“I think his game has even grown this year,” Carbery said. “He’s a better all-around defenseman, and he’s continuing to push the envelope in that respect, and also, the production hasn’t dropped off at all. If not, it’s increased from last year.”
