Things weren’t looking great for the Caps pre-game. Alexander Ovechkin was announced to be out before puck drop, joining Rasmus Sandin and Sonny Milano on the injured list. For a team that has a hard time scoring, losing your top scorer just before a game against one of the better teams in the league is bad news bears. So for the Caps to claw out a win was super impressive.
It wasn’t a perfect game, but at five on five, the Caps were the better team – and it’s worth wondering how much of that had to do with the move of Evgeny Kuznetsov to the wing.