Capitals: Top 3 heroes against the Sabres

Michal Kempny

When Michal Kempny wasn’t on the ice, the defense struggled. With Kempny back in the lineup for the first time in forever, it’s a welcome sign for a blueline anchored by a Norris Trophy hopeful in John Carlson.

There’s an old saying where good players make their teammates better. One could say Carlson got better with Kempny back paired in his rightful place next to him.

Kempny additionally has offensive upside and it was shown when he assisted on three goals. First he had a perfect cross-ice feed to Jakub Vrana for his second goal of the game.

Late in the second period, Kempny made a great play to keep the puck in the zone and set up a Tom Wilson deflection to make the Capitals lead 5-1.

Kempny’s best pass of the game came in the third period on the goal by T.J. Oshie. It was a backhanded beauty as Oshie was cutting towards the net.

Kempny played a total of 20:57 and had a shot, hit, block, and takeaway, an all-around good game across the board. He finished with a +3 thanks to his three-point effort. Kempny’s point total is now seven with three goals and four assists in seven games since his return from his hamstring injury.

Brendan Leipsic

Brendan Leipsic scored his first goal as a member of the Capitals on Friday night and additionally had an assist for his first multi-point game.

Leipsic’s goal came at 10:44 in the second period to give the Caps a 4-0 lead. Travis Boyd came down the ice after a pass from Radko Gudas. Boyd circled the net and fed cross-ice to Leipsic on the other side. Leipsic quickly sniped it home.

“It feels good. I’ve had a lot of chances and it’s always in the back of your mind to get that first one so it feels good,” Leipsic told the media after the game.

Leipsic had a block and was a +2 in 10:48 of ice time. He’s was instrumental Friday on the fourth line next to Chandler Stephenson and Travis Boyd although the trio were only on the ice together for a total of nine minutes and 58 seconds.

“It was a long road trip. Sometimes you can start slow at home so we came out with a purpose and made a couple of nice plays,” added Leipsic.

His advanced stats are getting up there but there’s alaso room for improvement. Leipsic’s Corsi-For percentage is 49.78%, not too shabby. His Fenwick For percentage is pretty good at 52.44%.

Jakub Vrana

Jakub Vrana had two goals on the night and was the number one player as the young athlete from the Czech Republic continues to evolve into a superstar.

Vrana used his speed to get the scoring started with a goal on the breakaway. Tom Wilson had the assist.

Vrana notched his second goal of the game after Wilson dumped the puck to Michal Kempny before the defenseman fired a pass that was cross-ice on the money to Vrana for the quick one-time snipe for his sixth goal of the season.

https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1190410773262028800

Vrana was all over the ice. In addition to his pair of goals he registered eight shots, was a +2 and had a block and a takeaway in 16:45 minutes of play. He nearly got his first career hat trick.

“I think we’re really confident out there right now. We have lots of energy especially when we came back from that road trip, that brought us a lot of energy. Everybody is working really hard, blocking shots, playing good defensively and that creates offense,” Vrana told the media.

Honorable mentions include Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie but for the most part, it was those previous three players mentioned who were the impact players in Friday night’s win. The Caps look to continue their momentum tonight when they host the Calgary Flames.