Photos courtesy Washington Capitals
The New York Rangers are a good hockey team, but this weekend the Capitals haven’t looked like the group that came back against Boston and embarrassed Florida. In a weekend to forget, the Caps fell to both New York franchises, and their playoff hopes continue to dwindle. Along the way they turned Martin Biron into a #1 star in the absence of Henrik Lundqvist, and left us searching for a highlight.
Steve Oleksy (Twitter) will be the target of our complimentary pixels, for scoring his first NHL goal and being named 3rd star of the game. He now has an unexpected 4 points in his first 4 NHL games, a very rare feat for a defenseman.
“I don’t score a lot of goals, so every one is nice. To get that one out of the way helps a lot, but at the end of the day we were looking for two points and we were unable to get that.”
When Oleksy was called up, some headlines and articles centered around his fighting experience, but Adam Oates was clear that wasn’t his expected role. Apparently he was called up because he plays solid defense and is a right-handed shot.
Clearly Steve Oleksy is not a point per game NHL producer, or else it wouldn’t have taken him this long to break into the league. However he has done a few things very well for the Capitals and has been rewarded. He has played solid defensively, cleared opponents from in front of the goal, hit hard, and thrown pucks at the net. Those are traits that Caps fans have always appreciated and craved, so it’s no surprise they’ve embraced Oleksy.
When he finds himself open at the point, he hasn’t been scared to take a shot even if he isn’t considered “that kind of player.” He’s had some space on the ice because opposing teams honestly aren’t worried about him, and Steve has taken advantage. Nobody knows how long his good fortune will continue, but by the looks of his smiling face on the bench after scoring today, Steve Oleksy hopes this ride never ends.
Upset we didnt get 2 PTS but want 2 thank every1 4congrats on my 1st @nhl goal. Especially @espn_mcguire mid game congrats. #BetweenTheGlass
— Steven Oleksy (@StevenOleksy) March 11, 2013
