The Washington Capitals put on a show in front of their fans this week, who eagerly anticipated the return of hockey in the District.
First the Washington Capitals took care of the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime on a goal from Tom Wilson. Two night’s later they bested the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues with a shot by Nicklas Backstrom from way downtown that trickled into into the net with seven seconds left.
On Saturday night the Washington Capitals lineup was filled with mainly youngsters but the kids stepped up and soon many of them will either go back to Hershey or their respective minor league teams to continue their development after the next round of cuts later today.
2019 second round draft pick Brett Leason opened up the scoring at 6:44 of the first. The unassisted goal occurred when Leason pounced on a turnover on an errant pass and ripped the shot.
Brett Leason strikes first! #ALLCAPS #CapsCanes pic.twitter.com/ay2jqBDrSN
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 21, 2019
Brian Pinho doubled the lead later in the first period at the 16 minute mark scoring the first of two goals from him that would turn out to be the game-winners and the difference.
What a beaut. Pinho puts the Caps up 2-0 #ALLCAPS #CapsCanes pic.twitter.com/Mx5rV71cpd
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 21, 2019
Pinho’s goal came from breaking away from the defense and scoring a beautiful backhanded shot. Once again, the Caps pounced on a turnover which was once again committed by the same player: defenseman Fredrik Claesson. It also happened in the same fashion, on an errant pass.
2-0 Capitals would be the score after the first 20 minutes with Washington outshooting Carolina 6-4. The Capitals also killed off two Hurricanes power plays in the first period. The second period turned out ending up scoreless with the Caps outshooting the Hurricanes 8-3 and killing off one penalty successfully.
Pinho added his second goal of the game at 8:31 in the third period to put the Capitals up 3-0. Off of passes from Lucas Johansen and Garrett Pilon, Pinho got a shot off through traffic into the net.
Pinho puts another in the net! Assists from Pilon and Johansen #ALLCAPS #CapsCanes pic.twitter.com/pSMdMuXJCs
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 22, 2019
At 11:30 the Hurricanes got on the board with the same villain that scored inside this very building in double overtime in Game 7 that ended Washington’s season: Brock McGinn. Lucas Wallmark was credited with the helper.
The Hurricanes got another at 14:54 from Janne Kuokkanen with assists from Jake Bean and Martin Necas. That would be as close as they would get as the Capitals held on for a 3-2 win to go 3-0-0 on the preseason, wrapping up the home slate by winning all three games. Ilya Samsonov got the start in goal and stopped 13-of-15 shots for a .867 save percentage.
The Capitals continue their preseason on Wednesday night in Chicago.