The Washington Capitals defeated the Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Wednesday, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in their first-round series. Not only did they get clutch goaltending from Logan Thompson and two big goals from Connor McMichael, but they also got a contribution from the newest player on the team, Ryan Leonard.
Leonard registered his first career playoff point, a secondary assist on Dylan Strome’s game-winning goal in the second period.
Leonard, who was on the ice with the first line, started the play by sending a sent a smart cross-ice pass to Anthony Beauvillier. Beauvi then immediately found Strome driving the center lane. Strome’s initial quick shot was stopped by Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault, but he captured his own rebound and scored on his backhand to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.
According to Capitals PR, the point made the 20-year-old Leonard the youngest Caps player to record a postseason point in nearly a decade. A 20-year-old Andre Burakovsky tallied an assist, his first career postseason point, on May 4, 2015 against the New York Rangers. Two nights later, he’d break out for two goals in Game 4 of the seven-game series.
The point marked Leonard’s first since scoring his first career goal, an empty-netter, during Alex Ovechkin’s 894th-goal game against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 4 — a span of seven games between regular season and playoffs. He hasn’t managed to score on a goalie just yet, but continued to get good chances against the Canadiens on Wednesday.
“I hit Montembeault in the chest a good amount of times tonight, so maybe we’ll save it for Montreal,” Leonard said when asked when his first playoff goal may happen. “Who knows? Just a lot of confidence. I feel a lot better with the puck, making a lot more plays and trusting myself. Then again finding that fine line when to make those plays. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable within the series.”
While Leonard hasn’t posted many dashboard points, he’s been confident with the puck, put a good amount of rubber on net, and imposed his will physically.
Though he hasn’t been flawless, head coach Spencer Carbery praised his play so far.
“I’ve liked both sides of it,” he said Thursday. “I will preface it with saying this: You have to understand for a young player, there’s going to be mistakes away from the puck. That’s just the reality of a young player in the National Hockey League, especially this time of year. I know there’s going to be correctable moments for him…He’s done so many more positive things, for me, with the puck, with his physicality, with his competitiveness, that outweigh all of the stuff that’ll be easily corrected as he moves along and as he matures in his hockey career.
“He made a couple of really, really high-end plays last night. The entry play to lead to the goal, the one late in the third period where he delays and then he takes it to the net — really good opportunity there, gets two good shots. The first one early in the game misses the net, but the second one he gets into a good scoring area, shoots through the defenseman. There’s a lot of positives to what he’s bringing to our group right now.”
Leonard is still less than a month into his NHL career — he went from college classes to Ovechkin’s record-breaking week, and is now going up against an Original Six team in the playoffs. While he may not have exploded on the scoreboard, Leonard has proven a solid contributor even as he continues to adjust to the pros.
“Lenny coming from school, it’s a tough task for him to get right into the line up and all that,” said Andrew Mangiapane, who has played opposite Leonard on the Capitals’ third line. “But he’s handled it well and just stepped right in seamlessly there for us.”
