New-look fourth line adds much-needed scoring punch
WASHINGTON — At the sound of the goal horn and the sight of each other, Jakub Vrana and Travis Boyd each stretched their arms wide and jumped into a celebratory embrace. They both had badly needed that goal. Vrana, who scored it, was coming off a rough performance in his previous game and was demoted to the fourth line before this one. The silver lining was that he was reunited with his old center, Boyd, from the Washington Capitals’ farm team.
Boyd had patiently waited for his turn in the NHL, spending three years in the American Hockey League, and then he was hurt to start this season. In his season debut Monday night, he just wanted to help the team win and show he deserves to be in the lineup. Mission accomplished. Along with winger Devante Smith-Pelly, the Capitals’ newlook fourth line with Boyd and Vrana accounted for the first two goals of the game on its first two shifts, lifting Washington to an early lead it never relinquished in a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
“I think we needed that win and we knew they have a pretty good team,” captain Alex Ovechkin said. “Obviously, I think tonight the [Boyd] line set the tone. Two shifts, two goals, it’s pretty big.”
Though the Oilers were able to get close at several points throughout the game, the Capitals were able to restore and maintain that early two-goal cushion. Winger T.J. Oshie made it a 3-1 game in the second period after a spin-o-rama pass from center Nicklas Backstrom. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl cut the lead to one again 2:30 later, but onaCapitals power play less than three minutes after that, captain Alex Ovechkin one-timed a rebound that went straight to him in the left faceoff circle. He is tied for the league lead with11goals.
With the second line of Oshie, Backstrom and winger Chandler Stephenson, along with the top defensive pairing of Matt Niskanen and Dmitry Orlov, charged with containing superstar Oilers center Connor McDavid, Capitals goaltender Pheonix Copley made 31 saves to record the The Capitals’ Jakub Vrana celebrates with Travis Boyd after scoring during the first period to give Washington a 1-0 lead. second win of his NHL career. McDavid scored his10th goal of the season on a first-period power play, but the Capitals did a commendable job of limiting him at even strength.
Considering leaky defensive performances have burned the Capitals in recent outings, Monday’s effort was especially encouraging as the team tries to rediscover its tight-checking identity from its Stanley Cup run.
“Youtry to limit their speed andtheir space and they’re such good players that sometimes you’re not able to always do that, and that’s when you kind of rely on each other,” Oshie said. “You rely on your systems to help you out with that. Nick’s probably go the hardest job there in the middle and being down low and, more times than not, off faceoffs being paired up with McDavid. So, it’s difficult. Tonight, we needed a little help from our [defensemen]. We needed some help from [Copley], but wewereabletoget the job done.”
Washington had lost two games in a row going into Monday night’s game, so coach Todd Reirden shuffled his forward trios, most notably promoting Dmitrij Jaskin to the top line beside center Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ovechkin. But it was the corresponding move that ultimately paid dividends for the Capitals.
Skating with Kuznetsov and Ovechkin on Saturday against the Dallas Stars, Vrana had been involved in two costly turnovers in what was ultimately a 4-3 overtime loss. Though Reirden never mentioned Vrana by name, he was critical of the 22-yearold, and he seemed to be sending another message when he dropped himtothefourthline against the Oilers.
After Washington had to rally from two-goal deficits in back-to-back games, the Capitals finally had that cushion for themselves thanks to some much-needed depth scoring.
“Something we were looking for in particular against this opponent and even moving forward into Wednesday, just having four lines that could provide different elements to them,” Reirden said. “That’s what you need. You need to have different lines contributing every night. I felt strongly about the four lines tonight going into the game, that they’d be able to provide some different looks for us. And it worked out for us.”