Capitals’ Jakub Vrana flips home first NHL goal (Video)

Washington Capitals forward Jakub Vrana got his first NHL goal on Friday thanks to some help from Evgeny Kuznetsov. 

The Washington Capitals power play has not been strong this season. Traditionally one of the best in the NHL, this season it ranks 17th with a 16.7 percent success rate. With the second power play unit getting an overhaul, maybe it’s trending upwards. Against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, Capitals forward Jakub Vrana got his first NHL goal with a little help from a beautiful feed from center Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Caps fans have to be happy with this play. Kuznetsov, who’s going through a slow start to this season, enters the offensive zone aggressively. Vrana, the Capitals’ 2014 first round pick, goes to the net and gets a huge reward. This is his first NHL goal in his fifth game. It’s also Kuznetsov’s third primary assist in the past two games. Maybe this is a sign he’s starting to get going again.

After the game, as is tradition, Vrana got a shaving cream pie to the face from teammate Tom Wilson. This is nothing new for the Capitals, who bestow the honor to all players who score their first career goal.

With a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres, their third win against them over the past two weeks, the Capitals sit at 16-7-3. Despite the excellent record, it’s only good for fourth in the extremely competitive Metropolitan Division. Four of the top five teams in the NHL in point percentage are from the division.

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Vrana joins an already impressive group of 2014 first round picks. David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins has been arguably the most impressive so far this season, as he’s among the league’s leading goal scorers. 2014 first overall pick Aaron Ekblad won the Calder Trophy back in 2014-15.