The Washington Capitals beat the Edmonton Oilers 7-4.
Last nights game in Edmonton was a throwback of sorts to the time of Gretzky, Coffey, Kurri and Messier. Both teams playing run-and-gun hockey, exchanging goals and hits and leaving plenty of room to showcase the skill of these players.
Alex Ovechkin lives for these types of games. Going toe-to-toe with one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history wasn't something the Oilers were hoping to get into. Edmonton did the best they could to stop the Great 8, leaving him with only two assists as the night wound down.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, the room that Ovechkin created by drawing defenders to him left Evgeny Kuznetsov wide open to completely take over this game.
It wasn't as if Kuznetsov needed to break out anymore than he has in the past, going back to his playoff heroics last season against the Islanders, but this was a game that sent his stock skyrocketing as he recorded his first NHL hattrick and picked up 5 points.
Kuznetsov's ability to take over last night with his speed and skill was comparable to another superstar Russian in Detroit. Young 'Kuzy' may not be quite ready to stand side-by-side with Datsyuk right now, but the first few games of the season have shown just how special the 26th overall draft pick in 2010 really is.
"It's awesome, he's playing with a lot of confidence,"said Nicklas Backstrom. "He makes plays when he has got the puck. He's grown so much from last year. Everyone is happy to see that."
Indeed we are.
Philipp Grubauer made a shaky first start stopping 19 of 23 Edmonton shots. Grubauer did make some key saves that kept the Oilers from staging a late comeback.
The Caps chased Anders Nilsson in the second after scoring 6 times on 17 shots. Cam Talbot stepped in and went 8 for 9, but let a 7th goal slip late in the third which ended up being Kuznetsov's hattrick goal.
Justin Williams, Andre Burakovsky and Marcus Johansson also scored. Nicklas Backstrom netted a PPG in the first, his 4th of the year. Backstrom has been on fire since returning from hip surgery, scoring 4 goals and 3 assists.
John Carlson picked up 3 assists as well, moving him in the scoring department to 3rd in the league with 10 points.
Kuznetsov (11points) now trails only David Krejic (12 points) for the league points lead.
The emergence of the Caps top two lines has been a little surprising as Backstrom has been finding great chemistry with Williams and Johansson while Kuznetsov, Oshie and Ovechkin have been mostly dominant.
We'll see if the combinations continue in the next few weeks, but as of right now, if it ain't broke - don't fix it.
More to come...