For a brief duration Wednesday, the Washington Capitals as soon as again had a gamer leading the league in scoring. It simply wasn't who you 'd expect.
John Carlson had a goal and two helps, offering the defenceman 14 points, and the Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 Wednesday night for their very first house win of the season.
"Just getting lucky I think," stated Carlson, on rate to double his career high of 70 points from a season ago. "Guys are making some great plays to me, and the people I'm passing to are scoring today."
Carlson had continued of Edmonton forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. McDavid had five points and Draisaitl had 3 in a definite win over the Philadelphia Flyers and both Oilers leapfrogged Carlson.
Capitals colleague Alex Ovechkin, a three-time MVP who has actually paced the league in points (2007-08) and objectives (eight times) during his illustrious profession, gathers much of the attention on offense in Washington. It's been Carlson at the forefront early this season. His 11 helps were also tops in the NHL among defencemen, and they've come while the club waits for the return of Michael Kempny from off-season hamstring surgical treatment.
"He's playing actually well, and that's something that we discussed this summer season with the departure of some other guys," coach Todd Reirden said. "He's been a big reason that we've been able to get through this time without Kempny."
Nicklas Backstrom added a goal and a help, and Jakub Vrana and Evgeny Kuznetsov likewise scored for Washington, which lost its first three home games for the very first time considering that October 1983. Two of those beats came in overtime.
Novice Samsonov settles in net
Rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 29 saves in his first home start to make his 3rd profession win after going down 2-0 early. His last stop came as Washington exterminated Carl Hagelin's third-period penalty for hooking.
"It was an actually good game for a young goaltender, because things probably didn't go exactly how he wanted in the first, and he made a modification," Reirden said. "He totally calmed down and let pucks start to start to hit him."
Kasperi Kapanen scored short-handed and assisted on Ilya Mikheyev's goal as Toronto got the first-period lead. John Tavares scored late in the third to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Michael Hutchinson stopped 28 shots in his second start for the Maple Leafs, who lost on the road for the very first time this season. Toronto has quit 10 objectives in 2 video games played as the second of a back-to-back set.
"The bottom line is we've got to do a better job of keeping it out of our internet," coach Mike Babcock stated. "It's one thing if they've made a play that's incredible. If you're not standing next to your guy, that's on you."
Leafs fall apart in 2nd duration
Toronto still led after the very first intermission, however that turned into a 4-2 deficit throughout a 68-second stretch of the second period.
Initially, Kuznetsov took Carlson's pass on the break, cut in from the left and covered a backhand around Hutchinson's left pad with 14:53 left in the duration. Just 11 seconds following the reboot, Backstrom's one-timer off T.J. Oshie's feed beat Hutchinson to give Washington the lead.
Within 30 seconds of that, Nicholas Shore and Codi Ceci both took small penalties to provide the Capitals a 5-on-3. And with 13:35 staying in the duration, Carlson scored off Ovechkin's feed for Washington's seventh power-play goal of the season.
"When other teams have gifted offensive gamers, they're going to have a push at some point in the video game," Hutchinson stated. "It's just unfortunate they were able to bury their chances on their push."