Jordan Kyrou’s power-play goal at the 11-second mark of overtime lifted the Caps to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Kyrou took a feed from Jakob Chychrun and ripped a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman, ringing the far post and going in with two ticks remaining in the Washington man advantage.
“Not much time there, obviously,” says Kyrou of the Caps’ strategy with the last several seconds of a carryover 4-on-3 power play. “I guess our plan was to get in the zone as quick as possible and just try to attack.”
When the extra session got underway, the Caps had 13 seconds with which to work with the extra man. Caps coach Spencer Carbery deployed a trio of forwards – Kyrou with Dylan Strome and Alex Tuch – along with a lone defenseman in Chychrun. Strome won the draw forward, and Kyrou quickly jumped into Boston ice to collect it.
Kyrou played catch with Chychrun, before taking the return and ripping it home with Tuch screening Swayman.
“If we didn’t win the draw, just see if we can get a rush chance and then get a forward off the ice quick,” says Strome of the overtime strategy. “It was kind of a makeshift unit there on the 4-on-3, but great job by Kyrou first of all, off the hop, off the draw, just realizing that there wasn’t a guy there. So, I just try to push it forward to him and tell him to go, and it worked out well. Great screen by Tuchie, and we’ll take the win.”
Kyrou’s goal finished off a perfect night for the Washington power play, which finished the night with three goals in as many extra man chances. The Caps won five of their seven draws on the power play; Strome was given a face-off loss on the lone draw of overtime, despite the Bruins never possessing the puck in the brief overtime. According to Sport Logic, the Caps possessed the puck in the offensive zone for 4:20 of the 5:01 they spent on the power play in Friday’s game.
The Caps are now 2-0-1 for the preseason with one game remaining, late Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
Washington’s power play propelled it to a 2-0 lead, scoring once in each of the first two frames. The first unit turned in a dominant performance late in the first period, winning both of its face-offs, generating excellent puck and body movement as well as retrievals.
The result was four Bruins penalty killers who had been on the ice for over a minute and a quarter by the time Strome pulled a loose puck off the right post and flicked it past Swayman for a 1-0 lead at 18:04 of the first period. Tom Wilson and Pierre-Luc Dubois were credited with the assists.
When Cole Hutson drew a hooking call on Boston’s Connor Clifton late in the frame, the Caps were able to the start the middle stanza with a full two-minute power play. This time, the second unit started and it won a draw and generated a couple of good looks and shots before yielding to the top unit about midway through.
The same three players that combined on the first goal also cobbled together the second one, with a big non-scoresheet assist from Chychrun, who flagged down a Boston clearing bid just outside the Bruins line. The Caps had to clear the zone, but they were able to quickly re-enter.
Wilson got to the puck along the right half wall and nudged it to Strome. As Wilson barreled toward the net, Strome fired it toward the cage where it went off Dubois’ stick and then his skate, just as Wilson was driving by. The veteran winger tapped it between Swayman’s pads at 1:39, doubling the Washington lead.
“I thought they did a fantastic job,” says Carbery of his power play outfit. “The first one of the night, they had the puck the whole time, so much so that we wanted to give that other unit a look, so we started them in the second period and gave them an opportunity to get out there, and they did a good job as well. And Stromer’s unit goes back out and ends up scoring there.”
A swift moving, well-paced game got bogged down by whistles in the third. There were only 34 face-offs across the game’s first 40 minutes, but there were 28 in the third period just the opening one in overtime.
The third period was completely bereft of flow, and Boston struck for a pair of goals in the front half of the frame, squaring the score. Morgan Geekie chipped a shot in from the slot at 3:40, and David Pastrnak drilled home a flank one-timer to tie the game at 5:56.
Geekie’s goal came less than a minute after Swayman denied Washington’s Boone Jenner on a breakaway bid; both goalies appeared close to midseason form throughout the night.
Caps goaltender Logan Thompson had a strong glove hand all night, but his best – and most important – save was a left pad robbery on Elias Lindholm’s breakaway with just under seven minutes left in the third.
Both teams featured lineups laden with regulars, and both seem mostly pleased with their performances in Friday’s game. Boston coach Marco Sturm wasn’t thrilled about his penalty killing unit being dented for three goals against in as many shorthanded missions.
“I would say it was not really a structure thing,” says Strum. “It was just on our behalf a little bit of stupidity, not being ready or not being in shooting lanes. It’s those kinds of things. We’ve just got to make sure that we dial in, because those little details [need to be] better on clears. You’ve got to clear them 200 feet.
“But structure wise, they were fine. It’s just that those details were a little bit missing today.”
Boston concluded its preseason with Friday’s overtime setback; the Bruins finished at 2-1-1. The Bruins open the regular season on Tuesday night when they host the Rangers while Washington waits until Friday before it visits Carolina for its own season opener.
“