Some NHL teams made big splashes in the offseason signing a high profile free agent from another team. For the Washington Capitals, their biggest splash was re-signing Jakub Vrana.
One of Jakub Vrana’s most memorable games in a Washington Capitals sweater came on home ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs. It was a goal that changed the momentum of an entire series and what would turn out to change an entire spring in Washington.
People didn’t think it would be possible for the Capitals to bounce back from Game 4 being in the position they were in. Having Tom Wilson suspended for three games didn’t help either.
But the Caps proved to the hockey world on that Saturday night just how different and resilient they truly were. Overcoming an early 1-0 deficit as well as one of their worst periods of the playoffs, the Capitals stormed with four unanswered goals in the third for a 6-3 win.
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The Penguins struck first with a slapshot from the point by Jamie Oleksiak at 2:23. The Capitals gained some momentum late in the period after Dominik Simon was called for tripping and the power play answered with a blast from John Carlson.
Before Capitals fans could even sit right back down to watch the rest of the first period or get ready for intermission, Brett Connolly helped finish off a great turnover play that was created along the boards by Lars Eller and Vrana.
Connolly sniped the quick pass from Vrana to give the Caps a 2-1 lead just 33 seconds after Carlson tied the game. All with just 1:05 left in the first period.
The second period was a different story. It was all Pittsburgh in the shot department 18-5 and the Capitals were whistled for three penalties. Alex Ovechkin was called for slashing at 4:24 and Sidney Crosby tied it with a power play goal 19 seconds later.
At 6:57, Devante Smith-Pelly went to the sin bin for slashing. Patric Hornqvist gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead 48 seconds later. The lead and the momentum was on the Penguins side heading into the second intermission and the Caps had no choice but to have their best third period of their life.
That’s exactly what they did.
52 seconds into the third period, Evgeny Kuznetsov (who had to move up and play top line minutes after Nicklas Backstrom exited the game with a hand injury), caught a breakaway pass from Jakub Vrana, buried it past Matt Murray and unleashed the bird to tie the game at three.
Late in the period, Braden Holtby made a huge save with his blocker stopping Brian Dumoulin. Holtby got the puck to Kuznetsov, who gave it to Ovechkin. Ovechkin glided down the ice and set Vrana up with the perfect pass right in front of the net. Murray couldn’t get his glove on the puck in time and it was pure bedlam inside Capital One Arena.
T.J. Oshie and Eller each put the game away with empty net goals and just like that Washington had a 3-2 second round lead over Pittsburgh in the playoffs. The Capitals would finally exorcise their demons two nights later.