You play 82 games and you've got to learn from every one of them.'' ''We were probably the better team the last 10 to 12 minutes of the game,'' he said. He encouraged them to get back on the ice and win the final minutes of the contest. Washington scored three goals on six shots in the game's final period, and was outshot 32-22 by the Canucks in regulation.ĭuring a timeout midway through the third period, Canucks coach Travis Green reminded his team to breath and pointed out that they weren't being hemmed in their own zone. ''We didn't feel like we needed to cheat to get the offense but we thought we could get some chances.''
''We were able to talk about that between periods and really feel like we could build some momentum and get some opportunities if we played the right way,'' he said. Reirden felt that Kuznetsov's late tally gave his group something to work with heading into the third. ''We stick with each other, we stick to the game plan even though the game never went well, we give up some bad goals, but we stick with our plan and we get the results.'' ''Get back from 5-1,that means a lot for guys,'' he said. ''I feel like these types of moments, they build the team spirit and build the team together and that's huge for us,'' said Kuznetzov, who put a wrist shot past Markstrom with just 0.3 seconds left in the second period to get the comeback started. He has a really bright future ahead of him.''įinishing strong Friday was a big deal for Washington, Kuznetzov said. ''He just looks so comfortable back there, give up a goal or doesn't give up a goal, it doesn't really change how he acts, which is a rarity for young goaltender and a special presence he has. ''They converted on some mistakes by us, he still made some big saves in the third and overtime and great to see him in the shootout,'' he said of the 22-year-old Samsonov. It was a big performance for the rookie goaltender, Capitals coach Todd Reirden said. Goalie Ilya Samsonov stopped 29 of 34 shots for Washington in his fifth start of the season. Nicklas Backstrom sealed the comeback for Washington, beating Markstrom on the stick side in the third round of the shootout.Įvgeny Kuznetsov and Michal Kempny each scored two goals for the Capitals in regulation. ''They came hard and we played well enough to win, but they just had one more bounce than we did.'' ''Just one more blocked shot, one more puck deep would have got the job done,'' he said. Still, settling for a single point on Friday night was frustrating, he added. ''My mentality's been get pucks to the net one way or the other,'' Schaller said. It was the Canucks forward's third goal of the season, matching his total of last year when he finished with 10 points (three goals, seven assists).
Schaller scored his second of the game 13:59 into the period, batting a rebound out of the air and into Washington's net. Vancouver scored three times in the second period and led 5-1 with less than a second remaining in the period. Jacob Markstrom had 24 saves for the Canucks. Tim Schaller scored twice for Vancouver, Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist, and Elias Pettersson and Jake Virtanen also scored.