The Washington Capitals’ final goal before the NHL’s Olympic break — a Jakob Chychrun tally on February 5 against the Nashville Predators — was a memorable one.
With 6:49 remaining in the third period, Dylan Strome threaded the needle with a pass near the blue line, slipping the puck under a Predators penalty-killer’s stick to the Capitals rearguard. With a wide-open lane to the net, Chychrun skated to the top of the circles and ripped a shot past goaltender Justus Annunen.
The power-play goal was Chychrun’s second of the night and his league-leading 21st goal among defensemen. But most importantly, it gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead in a game they absolutely needed to win.
Then something absurd happened. In the preceding goal hug, Tom Wilson skated over out of left field and shoulder checked Strome into the glass with authority before playfully punching him several times in the right arm. “That’s f***ing right,” Wilson appears to yell, if my lipreading is correct.
Chychrun then joins in, punching Strome in the chest, before Ryan Leonard jumps into the pig pile. The video was posted by @bobbyfinnerty2 on X.
“We’re goofing off, having fun,” Ryan Leonard said. “Hockey’s fun, so sometimes you’ve got to be loose and mess around a little bit.”
Another angle posted by the Capitals on social media includes more yelling from Wilson at Strome, which appears to be encouragement.
So what happened?
“Actually, Tom, Ovi, and I had gotten scored on earlier on in the third period, so we weren’t playing too much the rest of the game,” Strome explained to RMNB’s Katie Adler after a recent Capitals practice.
The goal Strome is referencing was a five-on-five tally by Predators forward Michael McCarron. After some soft play along the boards, McCarron beat Strome to the net and scored easily on Logan Thompson, allowing Nashville to narrow the Capitals’ lead to 3-2 just 1:17 into the third period.
“And then we got a power play, and I made a bad [play],” Strome continued. “Like Tom kind of gave me a puck in my feet, and he knows I can make that play. And I didn’t make the play.
“So the next power play, he just came up to me on the way to the faceoff circle and just told me that I could make the next play. He didn’t, you know, scream at me, but he was pretty stern and said, ‘You know, make a play here. We need a goal. Make a play.’ So when I passed it to Chychy, and then Chychy scored, obviously, we were excited.”
And then the beatdown began.
“Tom just came in and just shoved me from behind because he told me to make the play,” Strome said. “And then I pushed Chychy. And then, I don’t know, Lenny went to dunk on the guy. So it was more just, we were all just excited because we weren’t playing five-on-five — our line, the rest of the third — and we got a power play and we made it count.”
The takeaway for Dylan was just how great a teammate Wilson is and how powerfully he drives the team.
“It was a real leadership play by Tom,” Strome said. “I felt like he fired me up right before the faceoff. We won the draw. Went right back to me, to Chychy, in the goal. So it was just one of those plays where we were just excited to get the goal. And we kind of screwed up earlier on in the game, so we were happy to help the team out there when we weren’t playing and just on a power play.”
