Evander Kane pots two to help Winnipeg Jets get first back-to-back wins over Washington Capitals 4-1
Winnipeg Jets felt a huge rush of confidence when the final buzzer sounded, signalling their first back-to-back victory of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season as Evander Kane potted two goals to overtake the Washington Capitals, 4-1,
Thursday night, November 17, 2011, at the sold-out MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Washington came out strong in the first period as Alexander Semin scored the opening goal to give the Capitals a lead to build on, something which indicated to the home crowd of over 15,000 that their team was headed into another loss, which would not have
been surprising.
However, just when the crowd thought that their team could not get any worse in the season, Kane potted his first of the night off an assist by Alex Burmistrov at the 7:51 mark to bring Winnipeg back into the match and level the score.
The second period was all Winnipeg and the fans could not have gone any wilder as Kane added another straight to break the tie and Blake Wheeler followed closely with his first of the regular season during their power play opportunity and another by Kyle
Wellwood at the midway point, also on an added man advantage.
"I thought our guys played extremely well," Winnipeg Jets head coach Claude Noel said. "We played with a lot of heart, a lot of passion, and we played very strong. We played to win the game. It's nice to watch us play back-to-back games like this."
Washington was helpless as the game progressed and both teams failed to score in the third period, but as Winnipeg was far ahead in the game, the Capitals failed to control their frustration.
"The best way to slow it down is to score a goal," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "The best way to stop a crowd from cheering is to not making stupid mistakes in your own zone and giving them opportunities to score."
Winnipeg hopes to finish of their three-game home stand in a perfect way when they host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday while the Washington Capitals pay a visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs the same day.
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