Wednesday’s bout in Winnipeg left the Caps battered.
TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Braden Holtby won’t play against the Colorado Avalanche due to upper-body injuries.
After the Capitals’ 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Capitals head coach Todd Reirden gave updates on injured players Braden Holtby, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Michal Kempny.
Reirden also discussed the hit that injured TJ Oshie late in the game.
Halfway through the first period of Wednesday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets, center Evgeny Kuznetsov was elbowed in the head by forward Brandon Tanev.
Tanev was penalized for an illegal hit to the head. Kuznetsov played one more shift on the resulting power play but soon headed to the Capitals locker room. He did not return.
So here’s an unfortunate reality that we have all been trying not to notice: the Caps’ top line is not working. After an absurdly successful Cup run, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov seem to have lost their magic at 5-on-5. After outscoring opponents 35 to 28 last season (and 20 to 9 in the postseason), Ovi and Kuzy are now being outscored 12 to 10. Considering how bad their defensive play has been, they should be thankful it’s that close.
Here is the case for breaking up Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.
Evgeny Kuznetsov is a rare bird and Monday against the Edmonton Oilers, the Russian center demonstrated a new way to force a faceoff.
While in a board battle in the neutral zone, Kuznetsov saw no pros in continuing to forecheck so he closed his skates on the puck and waited for a whistle.
Confused players on the ice just stood there, unsure what to do.
If you ever wanted to wear your favorite Capitals player’s face on your feet, now is your moment! At the Capital One Arena store, the Caps are now selling socks with Braden Holtby, TJ Oshie, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Tom Wilson‘s faces stitched into them.
Evgeny Kuznetsov’s underlying play might be concerning, but his play on special teams continues to impress.
Saturday against the Dallas Stars, Kuznetsov scored his sixth power-play goal of the season to tie the Capitals and Stars 3-3 in the third period.
All of Kuznetsov’s goals this season have come when the Caps were up an extra man.
At the beginning of October, we reported that Justin Williams was making hockey fun again with several creative post-game celebrations, including a slow clap and a jump into the boards at one end of the rink.
It turns out those celebrations may have been inspired by his former teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov.
The Washington Capitals Halloween Party is quickly approaching midnight and the celebration has taken what I can only call a wonderful turn. Just like last year, players are rocking the mic and doing karaoke.
Usually, this is where we document all the horrible singing, and, yes, we’ll definitely do that (Update: here it is), but I first want to point you to these Instagram videos of Evgeny Kuznetsov rapping.
He’s really good!
Earlier this season, we covered two different corn mazes that were Capitals and Stanley Cup themed.
There’s more farm madness to add to those attractions: Great Country Farms in Bluemont, VA has a Capitals themed pig race, and everything about this is so punny we’re squealing.
