Michal Kempny scored his first goal of the season against the Chicago Blackhawks, who traded him away almost a year ago. This was also his first goal against his former club. The Blackhawks commentators said he “bit the hand that once fed him.”
Kempny struggled when he was with the Blackhawks, and has credited the trade away from Chicago and his work with now head coach Todd Reirden with turning things around for him. Tonight, he got to show off those skills in fine form.
“It was my salvation,” Kempny said in an interview over the summer, “because I didn’t see any future in Chicago, and thank God the trade came because it pretty much saved my NHL career.”
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The play started with Lars Eller winning a faceoff in the offensive zone. Eller then went to the front of the net, while Jakub Vrana picked up the puck and moved back to the wall.
After some patient work along the boards, Vrana passed to Kempny, who was waiting at the point. Kempny blasted a slapshot past Corey Crawford.
Kempny’s teammates were happy to celebrate his first goal since scoring in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and his second point of the season.
Kempny isn’t the only player who’s been able to celebrate against the team that traded him away. Lars Eller scored on Monday against Montreal, then helped Kempny do the same with a secondary assist on his goal tonight.
With Michal Kempny scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks and Lars Eller scoring against the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 19, in two straight games the Capitals have had players score a goal against their most recent former team.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 22, 2018
Kempny was the game’s first star.
Clean sweep of #CapsHawks 3 ⭐️'s tonight:
⭐️: Michal Kempny
⭐️⭐️: @andreburakovsky
⭐️⭐️⭐️: @tom_wilso pic.twitter.com/FjDeRbnxEO— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 22, 2018
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Blackhawks
Headline photo: @Capitals
