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Washington Capitals rally to stun Canucks

By Michael Marzzacco

VANCOUVER, BC - OCTOBER 25: Michal Kempny #6 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena October 25, 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/NHLI via Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BC - OCTOBER 25: Michal Kempny #6 of the Washington Capitals celebrates after scoring during their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena October 25, 2019 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Washington Capitals rallied from a 5-1 deficit to steal a 6-5 win from the Canucks in Vancouver.

In the fourth game of a season-long five-game road trip, the Washington Capitals overcame a four-goal deficit for a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks. The Capitals improve their record to 8-2-3 with 19 points to remain atop the Metropolitan Division by five points.

The Capitals went up early 1-0 at 3:18 thanks to Evgeny Kuznetsov notching his fourth goal of the season. He created the play by laying out a hit on Micheal Ferland to force a turnover. Jakub Vrana pounced on the puck and got it to Kuznetsov who was positioned right in front of the net.

The Canucks went on the power play after Michal Kempny was called for hooking Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser struck to tie the game at 5:33. The Caps got a power play when Tanner Pearson was whistled for high-sticking John Carlson. Despite the man-advantage, the Canucks took the lead at 7:29 from Tim Schaller. 2-1 was the score after 20 with the Canucks having the edge in shots 12-10.

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The Canucks added three more goals in the second period to take a commanding 5-1 lead. First it was Pettersson at 5:29 then Schaller at 13:59. Jake Virtanen made it 5-1 55 seconds later.

With the clock winding down in the second period, Kuznetsov notched his second goal of the game to beat the buzzer and pull the Caps to within three goals entering the final period. Kuznetsov’s snipe came with 0.6 seconds left for his fifth goal of the season. Lars Eller and Radko Gudas had the helpers. 5-2 was the score after 40 as the Canucks outshot the Caps 13-6.

The Capitals answered in the final period with three unanswered goals to force overtime. First Eller forced a turnover while on the penalty kill (Vrana was called for high sticking Brandon Sutter) and came around to the front of the net to bury a pass from Garnet Hathaway to make it 5-3 at 1:57.

The Capitals cut the deficit to one at 4:57 with a blast by Kempny from downtown. Carl Hagelin was credited with the assist. Kempny added his second goal of the night with a one-timer from deep at 7:41 for his third goal of the season. Brendan Leipsic and Travis Boyd had the helpers.

The Capitals were outshot 7-6 in the third period and the game would require overtime and eventually a shootout. The Caps had the edge in shots in the 3-on-3 7-2 and the momentum was clearly on their side entering the shootout.

First up was Boeser who was stopped by Capitals netminder Ilya Samsonov. T.J. Oshie got things started on the other end scoring to give the Capitals the early lead.. The Canucks tied it with Petterson coming through. Kuznetsov and Person were stopped in the fourth and fifth round before Nicklas Backstrom won it.

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The Capitals have one more game left on their five-game trip which will occur Tuesday night in Toronto.

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