Photo: Kathy Kmonicek
Sometimes Washington Capitals forward Marcus Johansson struggles to finish in front of the net. Example: last night in the third period against the New Jersey Devils where Mojo , wide open in the crease, hit Cory Schneider right in the pads instead of lifting the puck up and over. The Capitals would lose 2-1.
The next day, Mojo flubbed another easy goal, but this time against the New York Islanders. No worries. Evgeny Kuznetsov cleaned up his mess.
As Kuznetsov got a heads-up pass from Troy Brouwer near the left face-off circle, he skated hard to the net. Noticing Johansson wide-open across the crease, Kuznetsov whipped a pass to the Swedish forward. Johansson fired towards the net, but instead found the blade of Kuznetsov’s stick. Kuzya ripped it home for his third goal of the season.
That was totally deliberate. Just how I do it on NHL14 (when I’m not playing against Tom Wilson).
One special thing about this goal, it’s Evgeny Kuznetsov’s first ever while deployed as a center. Kuznetsov has not had much time to adjust to his new league or linemates, be he already has 8 points in 13 games.
It’s almost like he’s living up to expectations. However much this year has sucked, Kuzya has been great to watch.
