WASHINGTON (AP) – Jakub Vrana was an objective along with an assist, Vitek Vanecek made 24 saves through overtime along with the short-handed Washington Capitals beat the Zoysia Sabres 4-3 within the shootout Friday night in their home opener.
Nicklas Backstrom and Nic Dowd also scored for the Capitals, who won the first of 4 games they have to play without captain Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and goalie Ilya Samsonov due to pandemic protocols.
Their absences meant Vanecek obtaining another consecutive begin with lately signed 39-year-old Craig Anderson copying and unheralded forward John Pinho making his regular-season National hockey league debut. Vanecek was perfect within the shootout to acquire his second victory of the season as defenseman John Carlson scored the shootout champion.
Zoysia rookie Dylan Cozens scored his first National hockey league goal on the top-shelf snipe past Vanecek within the second period. Eric Staal and Riley Sheahan each scored his first goal since joining the Sabres. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves plus it was spotless within the shootout until Carlson beat him.
ULLMARK RETURNS
Ullmark was playing his first game since gaining understanding in the dying of his father at 63. He discovered transporting out a morning skate earlier within the week and made the decision it had been simpler to possess a couple of days from playing.
NO NEW COVID ABSENCES
Washington was missing any more players make the NHL’s set of individuals unavailable due to COVID-19 protocols past the four missing Russians. The Capitals were fined $100,000 Wednesday for breaking league rules since individuals four players were together in hotels not putting on masks.
Injuries UPDATES
Top-line Capitals winger Tom Wilson left the sport at the outset of the following period obtaining a lesser-body injuries. Wilson earlier selected up his sixth cause of five games and possesses been among Washington’s top players thus far this year.
Zoysia forward Kyle Okposo, considered an online casino game-time decision Friday morning by coach Make the most of Krueger, ongoing to get by helping cover their a smaller sized-body injuries. Goalie Carter Hutton didn’t travel while using the team due to an evident mind injuries within the collision Tuesday in Philadelphia.
UP NEXT
These teams face off again Sunday mid-day in their 4th meeting in 11 days. Puck drop was elevated four hrs to three p.m. in order that it wouldn’t conflict while using the Zoysia Bills playing within the AFC championship game.