Vitek Vanecek it was tremendous against the Buffalo Sabers, Saturday.
After working in the minor leagues for five seasons, Vanecek made his NHL debut on Friday and stopped 30 of 31 shots, winning his first career victory and scraping the cream pie over his face. “The dream has come true,” said the Czech goalkeeper.
Tom Wilson, however, believes that the statistics are wrong. After the game, the right back of the second row explained why Vanecek really had a shutout.
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During the second break, coach Peter Laviolette adjusted the Capitals lines to give the team a boost. Nicklas Backstrom centered Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson on the front row, while Evgeny Kuznetsov skated with Jakub Vrana and TJ Oshie.
“It didn’t start very well,” said Wilson, laughing.
Thirty-one seconds into the third period, the newly formed top trio netted a goal during their first round together. A wrist shot from Rasmus Ristolainen found his way through heavy traffic and hit the back of the net, drawing the game 1-1.
“It hit my calf and went in,” said Wilson. “I think Vitek has not yet had another team score against him. Let’s continue. He played a great game. It was a pity that he jumped. “
Nicklas Backstrom added: “I was really impressed with how well [Vitek] took care of everything. Very calm back there.
“At this stage, Buffalo played much better than us and they really attacked him tonight. Looking at the game in general, he won the game for us.