With the Washington Capitals in town to face the San Jose Sharks, Ryan Leonard was on man on a mission.
Going up against former Boston College teammate Will Smith, Leonard put on the showing of his career.
Leonard continued his hot streak in remarkable fashion in San Jose on Wednesday, striking twice and adding two assists, while Alex Ovechkin and more also stayed hot en route to a 7-1 win.
Here are the takeaways as the Capitals extended their winning streak to six games:
It was the Ryan Leonard show in California on Wednesday, as the rookie put on quite the performance to propel D.C. to a win.
His first goal of the game came on a brilliant play, where he first got the puck to the front before skating around, collecting the puck and showing patience before sniping a quick shot past Yaroslav Askarov.
With the goal, Leonard extended his point streak to four games and now has points in five of the last six outings overall.
After collecting two assists, Leonard got on the board again in the second on a highlight-reel play. where he hit 19 miles per hour, kicked teh puck to himself and fended off the Sharks backcheckers before danging the puck past Alex Nedeljkovic.
Leonard finished the night with four points, and not only was he all over the scoresheet when it came to offense, but he was throwing his weight around, getting physical and making good decisions at both ends of the ice.
It was the breakout game that the rookie needed, and he now ranks third among all rookies in scoring this season.
It was another day of goal scoring for captain Alex Ovechkin, who extended his point streak to six games while continuing to find the back of the net.
He opened the scoring early in the first, getting to the front and sticking with the puck before finally roofing it home. Later on, he scored on the power play for his 14th goal of the season and 911th of his career.
At 40 years old, Ovechkin is on pace for 41 goals, and he has 29 points through 28 games so far this season.
The Capitals also continue to find their footing on special teams, which were pivotal en rotue tot he win.
Ovechkin’s power-play goal marked the team’s third straight game scoring on the man advantage, and they also had a decent night on the penalty kill.
Washington went 4-for-5 on the kill, and on one of them, Aliaksei Protas pushed teh play up ice and broke away. After pulling off some great moves in front, he curled the puck behind him to find Brnadon Duhaime, who backhanded home a shorthanded goal for his second point of the night.
Protas now has points in four straight games and five of the last six.
Back-to-backs haven’t been kind to the Capitals to open this season, and it was even more of a challenge with John Carlson and Justin Sourdif ruled out late due to injury.
However, everyone stepped up, and D.C. changed the narrative.
Goals from Ovechkin and Sonny Milano just 100 seconds apart early on set the tone, and it gave Washington something to build on as the team dominated from start to finish. Dylan Strome also scored to put things further out of reach.
With everyone chipping in and all four lines rolling, the Capitals were able to control the tempo and stick to their game and overcome some adversity for a convincing win,.
With all the goal-scoring, it was easy for Charlie Lindgren to go under the radar, but the 31-year-old netminder had quite the night in net.
Lindgren came up with a handful of ten-bell saves, including an impressive glove stop that led to D.C.’s shorthanded goal.
Though Lindgren’s shutout bid was ruined in the final minutes of regulation after Dmitry Orlov’s slap shot was deflected by Pavel Regenda, he shut the door and impressed with 22 saves on 23 shots. He also picked up an assist.
It was also a strong night for the blue line, as Trevor van Riemsdyk and Matt Roy had multi-point outings while Jakob Chychrun and Declan Chisholm also got on the scoresheet.