- Ryan Leonard went coast to coast on a power play to tie Saturday’s game
- Washington scored four straight in a 4-2 win over the Devils
- Read below for Leonard’s quote and Alex Ovechkin’s pass in the chase for Nicklas Backstrom
Ryan Leonard just skated through the entire Devils team.
The Capitals winger tied Saturday’s game 1-1 at 16:42 of the first period with a coast-to-coast goal on the power play, and Washington went on to beat New Jersey 4-2 at Capital One Arena. Watch the goal:
Leonard took the puck up ice himself in the final seconds of the man advantage. He got past Luke Hughes and split the Devils defense, cut to the inside and deked Jake Allen before sliding it across the goal line.
Leonard talked after the game about tying it up and getting Washington’s power play going:
“It was a lot of fun to get the game tied and get our power play going,” Leonard said.
It was his third goal of the season and his seventh point in eight games, which co-leads the Capitals. Two of his three goals have come on the power play. He scored 20 times in 75 games last season.
The goal also changed the game. Washington took over from there, with Ilya Protas, Dylan Strome and Boone Jenner scoring in the second period to build a 4-1 lead.
Protas buried a saucer pass from Ovechkin on the rush for the 2-1 goal. It was Ovechkin’s 761st career assist, which leaves him one shy of tying Backstrom (762) for the most in Capitals history, per NHL.com. This is the same Ovechkin who opened the season with a win over the Penguins.
Logan Thompson made 29 saves, 16 of them in the third period, and Timo Meier scored on a late power play to make the final score 4-2. Washington moved to 5-3-0, while New Jersey fell to 4-4-0.
Ovechkin gets his first chance to tie Backstrom on Tuesday when the Kings visit Washington.
