The Washington Capitals improved their record to 15-5-1 as they continued their second hottest start in franchise history.
The Caps defeated the Jets last night at Verizon 5-3 with goals from Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Justin Williams.
Braden Holtby stopped 23 of 26 Winnipeg shots.
Orlov scored his third goal in as many games and his tally ended up being the difference maker, putting the Caps up 4-3 in the second period.
Once again, the play of Evgeny Kuznetsov propelled the Capitals offense. Kuzy put up three points in last nights win (1g,2a) to up his total to 24 points this season. He's the Caps leading scorer so far and has 9 points in his last 7 games. This was Kuznetsov's 5th three point game of the year.
"The way he can control the puck, protect the puck, he's very shifty, very deceptive," said Caps goaltender Braden Holtby. "He's just very elusive that way and tough to read. That comes from a high level of intelligence. Nick [Backstrom] is like that in a lot of ways too. Those are two of the smartest players I've played with, for sure. "
Backstrom has once again had a quiet but productive season, putting up 18 points in 18 games after coming off of hip surgery this summer. He has 7 points in his last 5 games and is 10 points away from 600 in his career.
Alex Ovechkin's march to 500 goals has also been a quiet run so far this season. After surpassing Sergei Fedorov as the all-time Russian goal scorer in the NHL, the Great 8 has just 14 goals to go to hit the famed mark.
The Caps are now 9-1-0 when scoring first this season, 5-1-1 in their last seven and 3-1 during their 5 game homestand.
They play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Black Friday at 5pm.
Friday's game will also be Barry Trotz's 1,300th NHL game.
More to come...