Washington Capitals: Three Stars Of The Game – Oshie Fights Back

Evgeny Kuznetsov

I thought this spot could go to a couple of guys. Richard Panik had a goal that started off the comeback, Carl Hagelin was going seemingly all game. But Evgeny Kuznetsov is the guys who gets our last stars of the game spot.

Kuznetsov got the second goal of the game and it was a goal you love to see him score. It wasn’t a fancy toe drag snipe in the corner kind of goal. It was a ugly, grind it home, playoff goal. You need that come playoff time and the Capitals got it from one of the their best players in this game.

He set up Ovechkin a couple of times for potential goals, but Ovechkin couldn’t quite get it to go in. Kuznetsov did have 4 individual shot attempts which was tied for third, and had 3 scoring chances which was tied for second on the team.

Faceoffs are something Kuznetsov has struggled for a large part of his career, but vs the Lightning he won 10 of 18 draws, meaning he won over 55% of the draws he took. Good night for him at the dot.

Again, it was a less than impressive night for him in the advanced stats section. He was just 43% in possession and while on the ice the team had 3 chances for a 4 against. His team stats may not look too great, but individually, I thought he looked good. That, and scoring a goal will be good enough to get him a spot on our stars of the game. Hope to see more good things out of number 92 as the playoffs go on.