Washington Capitals: Top 3 studs against the Kings
The Washington Capitals secured a 2-0 win thanks to two late goals from Garnet Hathaway and a shutout from Ilya Samsonov that he earned. It was a big win over the Los Angeles Kings, who entered last night’s game on an eight game point streak. That streak is over.
It wasn’t easy. It was the Caps fifth game in seven nights. They will play another 10:30 game this Saturday against the San Jose Sharks before finishing out their west coast trip with a Sunday night game against the brand new Seattle Kraken.
Here were the top 3 studs from the game.
#3 Aliaksei Protas
One of the hottest topics of the season has been head coach Peter Laviolette’s inability to play the young players more. That wasn’t the case on Wednesday night. In fact not only did six rookies play but one had a standout game even though he wasn’t on the scoresheet.
Aliaksei Protas played in a career high 15:27 minutes of ice time. That’s unheard of minutes for the rookies so far this season. Laviolette even praised him after the game calling him both “excellent” and a “difference maker”. He had three shots on goal while winning 44 percent of his face offs, using his polarizing six foot six frame.
#2 Garnet Hathaway
Garnet Hathaway was clutch and it’s like he’s been on a revenge tour ever since his podcast bro Nic Dowd got hurt. Away from the puck, Hathaway led the team with six hits. He’s had at least six hits in five of his 17 games played this season. He has 61 in all which lead the Capitals while ranking third in the NHL.
Offensively, Hathaway has five goals in his last four games. He had another two goal game earlier in that stretch on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets and a goal in Washington’s 6-1 rout over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Hathaway broke down his goal after the game:
“The puck’s going in the net, eh? I’ve been on the end of a lot of great plays right now. Tonight, what a play by Kuzy to John. …John is a skilled player, so I just had to stand there and put my stick on the ice.”
HATHAWAY BREAKS THE STALEMATE! pic.twitter.com/ur45stiCt0
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2021
“Hath was playing well but you always get judged by goals, it seems. Especially in the role that he plays, sometimes that’s not necessarily the factor that determines it for me. But with the amount of offense that’s out of the lineup right now, to have him contributing the way he is, is really important. He skates well, he handles the puck well, he shoots it hard, he goes to the hard areas. There’s no reason he shouldn’t score goals.”
#1 Ilya Samsonov
The number one stud of last night’s game was none other than Ilya Samsonov. And he deserved the kind of performance he had on Wednesday night. Samsonov was a brick wall, stopping all 34 Kings shots he faced. It was the fifth shutout of his career and his second this season. The 34 shots he stopped were the most saves he’s made in a shutout effort in his career.
In 52 career NHL games, Samsonov has a 34-10-4 record and a 22-3-2 record on the road. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, Samsonov’s 22 road wins rank tied for sixth in the NHL and are the most among goaltenders with 30 or fewer road games played.
“Oh my gosh. Tonight, I thought he stood on his head. He deserved it.”
Sammy absolutely dazzled last night for his second shutout of the season. You're going to want to watch this.#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/rKoM7tOBr4
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2021
“I need to play like that every night. It was an important game for me. I think I (turned to the) next page because my start of the season is not too great. I will believe that I will be better.”
Trending. Washington Capitals: Garnet Hathaway easily earns MVP against Kings. light
Samsonov improves his season record to 5-0-1 with a 2.45 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. Perhaps maybe we were a little too harsh on him earlier in the season. But if he’s winning games, that’s all that matters. The decision is up to GMBM in the summer.