Kraken goalie Joey Daccord was smiling through his mask at Alex Ovechkin when the Washington Capitals scoring legend had some nice words to say to him following one of his many saves that kept this 100th career game for the netminder somewhat close.
Daccord had just robbed Connor McMichael of a chance in alone on him in the first period of Thursday night’s 3-0 loss to the league’s No. 1 overall team and a guy chasing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 career goals. Ovechkin didn’t wind up scoring on Daccord but did notch an eventual empty netter in the final four minutes to pull within 19 goals of Gretzky’s mark once thought to be unassailable.
“He’s an incredible player – he’s most likely going to break this record,” Daccord said of Ovechkin afterward, having stopped 30 of 32 shots sent his way by the Caps – including four on clear-cut breakaways and the fifth on McMichael’s brief chance in alone. “Just to get the opportunity to compete against the best in the world, including him, is very special.
“I can remember me and my buddy Jack playing Xbox in his room, playing NHL ’08 as Alex Ovechkin and trying to score goals. So, it was fun to try to not let him score tonight.”
Daccord didn’t let many people score on him in this one after an opening Washington marker by Martin Fehervary was wiped out when the Kraken successfully challenged for offside on the zone entry. The Kraken netminder went on to make 20 consecutive saves before a giveaway behind the Kraken net led to Aliaksei Protas banging home the only goal his team needed on its 21st shot fewer than five minutes into the second period.
It was the kind of night seen often from Daccord the past two seasons, keeping his team in a game it could have been blown out in. The Capitals have won six straight and are 9-0-3 in their last dozen games and became the fifth team in the last seven Daccord starts to pump at least 30 shots his way.
Daccord has given up two goals or fewer in those games, though his latest acrobatics, prompting chants of “Jo-ey! Jo-ey!” from the Climate Pledge Arena crowd, wouldn’t be enough this time.
That Protas became the third Washington player after Ovechkin and Tom Wilson to reach 20 goals this season showed exactly the uphill climb the Kraken faced in stopping the NHL’s No. 2 overall offense. Beyond that, the Caps also boast the league’s No. 1 ranked defense and have yielded two goals or fewer in eight consecutive games.
That partly explained all the Washington breakaway chances as the Kraken pressed forward aggressively in trying to break through against the Caps and goalie Charlie Lindgren, making his first start in nearly two weeks after being out with an injury. Ethen Frank would pretty much seal it on a breakaway with fewer than two minutes to go in the second period, scoring on a rebound – but only after Daccord had stopped his initial chance in alone.
Earlier in the period, right after the opening Protas goal, Daccord had robbed Lars Eller at the goalmouth on a pass off a 2-on-0 breakaway chance.
“On the 2-on-0, you kind of take a little bit of a step back and respect that he could shoot it, but he might also pass it,” Daccord said. “And just try to be ready for whatever play they make. Obviously, it’s a tough play, and I was able to just get a pad on it.”
Eller was later robbed again in alone by Daccord in the final period.
“Breakaways are kind of a mental one-on-one battle,” Daccord said. “And yeah, I just try to be patient and try to read what they’re doing and then jump on it.”
Kraken coach Dan Bylsma had hoped his team would do a better job jumping on any opportunities the Caps afforded them. But those were few and far between – the Kraken getting outshot 24-10 when the second Washington goal went in – and the Caps made them pay with the breakaways when they didn’t execute.
“A little bit was us being aggressive,” Bylsma said. “But in that pressure, there were some breakdowns that allowed them to get those.”
Chandler Stephenson left the game in the third period after briefly returning from an undisclosed injury in the middle frame. Bylsma had no immediate update and said Stephenson will be evaluated Friday.
As for the game itself, he said Washington’s physical play, especially their aggressive forechecking, had the Kraken on their heels from the get-go. If not for Daccord’s “excellent” play, the Kraken would have been done long before the final period.
“We’re talking about three breakaways,” Bylsma said of the clear-cut chances that didn’t go in. “Even the goal-against breakaway, he makes the save on the first one and doesn’t get the second one.
“But you need to have good goaltending against a team like that to stay in the game and Joey gave it to us.”
Daccord kept things alive to where Oliver Bjorkstrand nearly got the Kraken right back in it with 13 seconds to go in the middle period. But Bjorkstrand was stopped by Lindgren after being sent in alone and the way this game was going, that was pretty much it.
“They make it hard to get chances, so it’s a game of patience a little bit,” Bjorkstrand said.
Bjorkstrand felt “the puck kind of jumped on me” with an odd bounce on his thwarted breakaway chance. And he agreed that Daccord was the only reason his team was still hanging around by that point.
“He did his job – you saw all the breakaways and so on,” Bjorkstrand said. “So, he played strong. If you don’t score, you don’t win. So, you’ve got to score.”
But the Kraken didn’t, leaving Daccord no victory to savor for his efforts. Still, he reached an NHL milestone that rarely seemed possible all those seasons spent toiling away in the AHL while getting to spend part of his special night briefly chatting with a superstar in Ovechkin whose likeness he admittedly played on video games as a child.
The Kraken hope Daccord has many more such efforts ahead of him, to where somebody now watching him from the stands or on television would love an on-ice nod from the goalie someday.
“It’s really special,” Daccord said of the 100th game. “I definitely don’t take it for granted and I’m really grateful the Kraken have given me this opportunity. To be able to play 100 games in the NHL, it’s really special for me and my family.”