Evgeny Kuznetsov took a razor to his head and most of his beard and was a completely different player during Game Four of the Capitals’ first round series against the New York Islanders, Tuesday.
After falling 2-0 to the Islanders in the first period, Kuzy rode the team several minutes into the second, skating around the Isles defense and hitting Semyon Varlamov to the far corner of the net. The target opened the figurative floodgates for the capitals as they unleashed a stream of shoes. Washington would score twice more – both goals were from captain Alex Ovechkin – and won 3-2. Game Five will be necessary and will be played on Thursday.
“Kuzy goal was enormous for us,” Ovechkin told the media.
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Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov speak to the media after a 3-2 victory in Game 4 against the New York Islanders pic.twitter.com/eAWi4sVaZS
– Washington Capitals (@Capitals) August 19, 2020
After wrestling most of the series at five-on-five, the capitals put the Islanders blanked in shot attempts at even power (48-27) according to Natural Stat Trick.
Kuzy finished the night with a percentage of 60.6 shot attempts at 5v5 (20-13) and skated a Capitals team-22: 42 for attackers. He had two points (1g, 1a), four shots, and two hits. Kuzy was so good that he was double-shifted by Capitals head coach Todd Reirden through half-time and was even tasked with closing the game at the last minute. He took over.
So what was the difference?
“I think we just stop thinking about the corsi or what stat (is) and try to play fun hockey,” said Kuznetsov, hiding his cold head under a balcony. ‘We try to keep the puck. Those are how we always play.
“I think maybe I do not understand hockey, but I think it’s how we should play,” Kuzy continued. ‘It’s not about the thousand shots. It’s about possession. It’s about wearing them. It’s about enjoying and having fun. That’s how we enjoy the game. If we enjoy the game so much, we will have success. If we do not enjoy the game, we will not have any success. ”
Kuznetsov’s thought process appears to be that since the capitals held on to the puck for better appearance, they could increase their possession and be more dangerous in general. And, at least in this game, it has allowed them to make more shot attempts.
“We stopped shooting the puck and we started sticking to the puck,” Kuznetsov said. “We started enjoying hockey again. That is what gives us success. I believe it’s very difficult to defend when boys give you 45 seconds, 50 seconds. Maybe we don’t shoot a lot of pucks, but at the same time we give respect to our line-mates. We share the puck. That may not be the typical NHL hockey, but that’s how we assume playing. If we will play like this, we will have fun, we will have fun, and we will have success. ”
Fun hockey is the chicken, and Corsi is the egg
– Redcoatdad24 (@toddrpollock) August 19, 2020
Full RMNB coverage of WSH / NYI Game Four
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington
