Takeaways & Notes From The Capitals' Shootout Win Over The Devils To Advance To 3-0 On The Preseason
The Capitals went the distance with New Jersey, and thanks to youngsters Ryan Leonard and Andrew Cristall, pulled out a 3-2 shootout win to advance to 3-0 on the preseason.
The Washington Capitals were in for a tough matinee matchup on Saturday, as several young guns took on a stacked New Jersey Devils squad featuring regulars Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt and more.
While the Capitals dominated to start, a couple of defensive errors resulted in New Jersey evening the score, and when things went to the shootout, where Andrew Cristall scored the winner for the 3-2 victory.
Here are all the takeaways from the win:
This is exactly the game that Ryan Leonard needed. Coach Spencer Carbery has wanted Leonard’s focus to shift away from just producing and scoring, and instead developing to round out his biggest assets to become a successful power forward.
Finally, it looked like he struck a balance and had a breakout performance against the Devils, scoring a highlight-reel goal 1-on-1 and helping generate chances in the offensive zone while also playing a sharp game defensively and using his physicality to his advantage. He also had an excellent shootout goal.
It’s exactly what the coaching staff wants to see from the 20-year-old as the roster competition gets more intense down the stretch.
Graeme Clarke, who signed a two-way deal this summer, looked very strong and made his statement. He was all over the ice and skating hard, picking up a goal and four PIMs. Clarke has been strong so far at camp, and could be a call-up option going forward this season.
Another standout: Patrick Thomas, who signed his entry-level deal at the end of last season, impressed with good speed, vision and playmaking. He had a primary assist with a picture-perfect pass to set up Clarke, and also had a number of good looks over the course of the afternoon.
Ilya Protas picked up his first point of the preseason with a secondary assist and had some great defensive plays, including a huge block in the final seconds of regulation to keep things tied.
Andrew Cristall appeared to cool off a bit after his strong showing in Hershey back on Thursday, but also stepped up to sacrifice the body late, and then dazzled with a shootout winner.
Rasmus Sandin had an outstanding game and led the charge on defense, taking good care of the puck and showing prowess at both ends of the ice. Jakob Chychrun ultimately led all players in ice time with a few more seconds than Sandin, but both skated over 24 minutes.
A lack of discipline ultimately reined the Caps in, as the Capitals took six penalties. The PK technically only surrendered one goal, but Shane Lachance’s goal came just seconds after the penalty expired.
In goal, Charlie Lindgren deserves a lot of credit, as he had a heck of a showing in his first game of the preseason. The 31-year-old was sharp and on top of pucks all night long, and made some stellar stops, including a split save on a 2-on-0 for Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt and a kick-out save later on to rob Nico Hischier. He also came up big in overtime, and ended the night with 19 saves on 21 shots.
The alternate captains: Jakob Chychrun, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Trevor van Riemsdyk.