Your fears may subside now.
Capitals second-line center Evgeny Kuznetsov suffered a scary injury Friday night against the New York Islanders. After taking a slash to the left wrist, Kuznetsov writhed in pain on the ice.
Saturday afternoon, Capitals PR announced Kuznetsov is “listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury” and will miss the Flyers game Sunday.
Former 13th overall pick Jakub Vrana, who wears jersey number 13, scored his 13th goal of the season Friday night against the Islanders. It was arguably the greatest goal of Jakub’s young NHL career.
The Sonic V took off down the ice with speed and rocketed the puck past Jaroslav Halak. The tally contributed to Vrana’s third star of the game.
Honestly, we’re all still a little speechless, because dang, Vrana is fast.
By Donya Abramo 5 years ago
For the second time this season, Alex Ovechkin was served an obscure equipment penalty. On January 12, Ovi took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing Tom Wilson a stick from the bench. His latest infraction was also stick related.
With 30 seconds left in the first period against the Islanders, Dmitry Orlov lost his twig. Ovechkin attempted to be the helpful captain we all know him to be, and “shot” the twig back to Orlov.
The only problem? You can’t do that.
By Donya Abramo 5 years ago
With five seconds left in the second period, Evgeny Kuznetsov skated in on a semi-breakaway against Jaroslav Halak.
Kuznetsov absorbed a slash to the left wrist from Thomas Hickey before crashing arm-first into the boards.
The team’s talented second-line center would leave the ice and not return. Kuznetsov’s health will be a major storyline going into this weekend.
The Caps didn’t quite get the extra point on the touchdown like they did Thursday night in Brooklyn, but the result will look the same in the standings as the Caps earned another two points against the Islanders. The victory didn’t come without sacrifice though as Evgeny Kuznetsov went down with an injury.
TJ Oshie continued his scoring ways, tipping home an Alex Ovechkin point drive on the power play. Mat Barzal tied things up with a power play marker of his own. Nicklas Backstrom restored the Caps goal advantage with a five-on-three strike. Matt Niskanen doubled that advantage late in the second.
Jakub Vrana put an exclamation mark on things with a highlight roof job. Brock Nelson added a late goal, as did John Tavares. Lars Eller got the empty netter.
Caps beat Islanders 6-3!
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
Thursday night in Brooklyn, Tom Wilson had his chimes rung by Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck was angry about an earlier, unintentional hit by Wilson. One would guess there would be some carryover as the two teams completed their home and home at Capital One Arena, Friday night.
And indeed there was. In the second period, Islanders’ enforcer Ross Johnston asked Wilson to dance after a big hit. Wilson, however, is suffering from a broken nose so he was like Nuh uh, I’m cool standing here by the punch bowl. Johnston did not take Tom’s rejection well and this was the angry, awkward result.
Monday night, Alex Ovechkin scored his 600th career NHL goal against Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets.
Friday against the Islanders, the Capitals held a special pregame ceremony honoring Ovechkin, which included a video tribute and a special gift.
After sitting out the last four games, Braden Holtby will start tonight against the New York Islanders. In the midst of his worst full season as a starter, Holtby has been pulled in three of the last six games and is posting career worst numbers in save percentage and goals against average.
Over the last week, Holtby has, in the words of Barry Trotz, “reset,” working individually with director of goaltending Mitch Korn and Capitals goaltending coach Scott Murray.
“It was obviously good to clear my mind and step back,” Holtby said Friday to reporters. “It makes it a lot better when we had success while [my reset] was going on. It makes it easier to focus on regrouping and working on a few things. Couple of days in practice, you’re not worried about conserving energy. You can really just work through things. It’s something I haven’t had in quite a few years. There was a positive in it for sure, mentally and physically, to just regroup a bit.”
The full transcription follows below.
This again? Ugh, I guess.
The Caps and Islanders will finish their season series and the back half of a back-to-back, home and home in what should be a really fun game for the official scorer. The chippiness from last night’s match up probably will roll over into tonight as this Metro-Division battle continues.
Get your dose of Caps hockey at 7 PM on NBCSWA. I will hundo be your recapper.
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By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
