The Washington Capitals put up a good lead on the Vancouver Canucks. Then they came back in the third period. In a near loss, the Caps got what they needed with Evgeny Kuznetsov completing his hat trick to tie the game and Lars Eller winning the game in overtime. It gave the Caps wins in two out of their three road games in Canada.
The Caps jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to two goals from Kuznetsov for his 17th and 18th, respectively. Nick Jensen played the puck and Kuznetsov deflected in a very weird bounce. T.J. Oshie had the secondary assist and the first goal came at 5:34.
The second goal for Kuznetsov came 43 seconds later. It happened on the power play and on another deflection, this time on an Alex Ovechkin shot from the office with John Carlson providing the secondary assist.
The Caps outshot the Canucks 11-8 in the first period and 12-9 in the second. While they outshot them 10-9 in the third the Canucks came all the way back and nearly pulled off stealing two points.
Quinn Hughes got them on the board 57 seconds in. Bo Horvat tied it at 3:19 on the power play. Horvat scored again to give them the lead at 4:59. At 15:07 the Caps tied it up with Kuznetsov completing the hat trick. He crashed the net and put in another rebound for his 19th of the season.
That equalizer forced overtime and then in the extra session Eller won it 42 seconds in with his ninth goal of the season. He cashed in on the odd man rush. Tom Wilson got the puck, worked it to Carlson who found a wide open tiger coming down the ice.
The Caps outshot the Canucks 34-26 overall. Vitek Vanecek made 23 saves. Other than the third he played really well making things more interesting for the goaltending situation. We’re nine days from the trade deadline. Buckle up.
Peter Laviolette said this on the win:
"“I thought we played a really good game tonight. It got muddied up a little but in three minutes. But when that did happen the pushback we had was really good again. Guys were just not stopping.”"
The Caps have a few days off but they’re back home on Tuesday night against the New York Islanders.