Former Capital Brooks Laich once said, \u201cIf you want money, go to the bank. If you want bread, go to the bakery. If you want goals, go to the net.\u201d And to end his 16-game goalless streak, that\u2019s exactly what rookie Justin Sourdif did.<\/p>\n
In the Washington Capitals\u2019 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers, Sourdif scored two goals from a combined 23 feet away, notching two career firsts in the process.<\/p>\n
Justin Sourdif\u2019s first career power-play goal<\/p>\n
Sourdif first got on the board 11:12 into the second period, giving the Capitals a 3-1 lead over the Rangers. Set up in the crease, Sourdif dug out a deflected pass from Alex Ovechkin, which hit off Will Borgen\u2019s shin pads, and backhanded the puck past Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick from six feet away.<\/p>\n
Unsure that he scored, Sourdif then knocked the puck into the net a second time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know [Ovi] throws a lot of pucks to the net, and, you know, that\u2019s how you score goals,\u201d Sourdif said. \u201cWhether it goes off a couple skates and then it ends up right on your stick, I just go to the net when he has a puck on his stick, and good things will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The power-play goal was the first of Sourdif\u2019s career in the NHL and his first goal in general since November 22 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The power-play goal also marked his first career power-play point in the NHL.<\/p>\n
Justin Sourdif\u2019s empty-net goal<\/p>\n
Sourdif added his second with 49 seconds remaining in the game, notching his first career multi-goal game in the NHL. After gathering an Aliaksei Protas dump along the end boards, Tom Wilson, who already had two goals in the game, opted to pass to his younger teammate instead of going for his second career hat trick. From 17 feet away, Sourdif sent a snap shot into the net, further icing the game for the Capitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty exciting,\u201d Sourdif said. \u201cTwo goals gives you a lot of confidence, obviously, especially when you haven\u2019t scored in a while, and I just look to help the team any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
In summary, Justin Sourdif\u2019s NHL firsts in the game included his:<\/p>\n
First career power-play goal
\nFirst career power-play point
\nFirst career empty-net goal
\nFirst career multi-goal game<\/p>\n
With Sourdif on the ice at five-on-five in the win, the Capitals controlled 65.7 percent of shot attempts, 51.6 percent of expected goals, 65 percent of scoring chances, and 54.6 percent of high-danger chances. Overall, the rookie forward\u2019s personal stat line included two goals, two shots, four shot attempts, four individual scoring chances, three individual high-danger chances, three hits, and one shot block.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll roll into Ottawa [on Thursday] and try and kick off the New Year\u2019s the right way,\u201d Sourdif concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Capital Brooks Laich once said, \u201cIf you want money, go to the bank. If you want bread,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-382388","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}