ELLER STEPS UP TO LIFT CAPITALS BACK IN SERIES
Centre provides spark after leading scorer Kuznetsov leaves games with injury
Lars Eller will never be confused with Nicklas Backstrom or Evgeny Kuznetsov. But so far in these playoffs, he’s been doing a pretty good imitation of both.
The third-line centre for the Washington Capitals, who was bumped up in the lineup when Backstrom missed time in the last two rounds, climbed the ladder again in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final after Kuznetsov was injured in the second period.
Once again, Eller did not disappoint in the elevated role.
Scoring a goal and picking up a pair of assists, Eller played the hero in a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night to even up this best-of-seven series 1-1.
Game 3 is on Saturday in Washington, D.C., and Kuznetsov’s health remains a mystery. But as long as Eller can continue playing like a top-line centre — he has six goals and 16 points in 21 playoff games — the Capitals might survive the loss of their leading scorer.
After a back-and-forth 6-4 win by Vegas in Game 1, both goalies vowed to be better. And for the most part, they lived up to their word.
Early in the first period, Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury made a barrel-roll save on T.J. Oshie that would have brought a smile to Dominik Hasek’s face. At the other end, Braden Holtby was even better. He stopped 37 of 39 shots, including a spectacular sprawling paddle save on Alex Tuch in the dying minutes of the third period that prevented the game from going into overtime.
But as well as both performed, they couldn’t stop everything.
As the Golden Knights have done at home this entire postseason, they took a 1-0 lead in the first period. James Neal got the goal on a defensive gaffe by Washington’s Dmitri Orlov, who tried to glove a lobbed pass, but instead watched helplessly as Neal batted it out of the air for a mini-breakaway. He then beat Holtby with a wrist shot that found the top corner.
The Capitals would get one back 10 minutes later on a ticktack-toe passing play that Eller completed.
Yet despite ending the period tied 1-1, Washington still found itself down after losing Kuznetsov on a huge hit from Brayden McNabb.
Coming two nights after Washington’s Tom Wilson caught Golden Knights playoff scoring leader Jonathan Marchessault with a blindside hit, you knew Vegas would be seeking retribution. And they did it by taking out a player who is leading the entire playoffs with 25 points.
It wasn’t necessarily a dirty hit. Kuznetsov had just dumped in the puck when McNabb finished a check where the initial contact point was the chest. But in the process, Kuznetsov’s left arm got squished and he immediately left the ice and went to the dressing room clutching his wrist.
The official word from the Capitals is it’s an upper-body injury.
While losing Kuznetsov should have been a huge blow for Washington, it had the opposite effect. The Capitals woke up in the second, scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead.
It wasn’t just the players who were making amends for the previous game.
In Game 1, Vegas forward Ryan Reaves cross-checked John Carlson and then scored when the Washington defenceman was down on the ice. Two nights later, Alex Tuch did the same thing to Carlson in the second period. But this time, the referees made the call.
With Washington on the power play, Alex Ovechkin put the Caps up 2-1 on a cross-crease feed from Eller, who had taken Kuznetsov’s spot with the manadvantage.
The Capitals weren’t done yet. Eller picked up his third point of the game on a goal from Brooks Orpik, whose shot was redirected off a Vegas player to make it 3-1.
Before the period ended, Vegas would get one back on the power play.
With Oshie sitting in the box, Golden Knights defenceman Shea Theodore floated a longrange wrist shot that found a seam through a maze of bodies and ended up in the back of the net.
Washington’s lack of discipline almost hurt them again in the third period, when Wilson took an interference penalty on McNabb, followed by a justifiable hooking penalty by Eller that gave the Golden Knights a twoman advantage for 69 seconds. But despite the combined three minutes in power-play time, Vegas couldn’t pull the trigger.
Much of that was because of Holtby. The Capitals goalie might have looked shaky when he allowed five goals in Game 1. But he was locked in for Game 2, as he showed when he dove across the crease and robbed Tuch of a sure goal with 1:59 remaining in the third period.
With Kuznetsov potentially out for Game, 3, the Capitals will need more of that from Holtby and Eller if they intend on winning their first championship.