monday, february 24 , 2020. the washington post eZ M2 D5
BY JAKE RUSSELLfor all the excitement the first
two weeks of the inaugural XfL
season provided the DC Defend-
ers, Sunday night was the polar
opposite.
The Defenders were brought
back to reality by the Los Angeles
Wildcats, who dominated at every
level as DC took a disheartening
39-9 loss in its first road game in
Carson, Calif.
Quarterback Cardale Jones had
his worst performance for the De-
fenders (2-1), completing 13 of
26 passes for 103 yards, no touch-
downs and four interceptions.
Jones also took three sacks before
he was replaced by backup Ty ree
Jackson in the fourth quarter.
The game was Jones’s first loss
as a starter since high school. The
ohio State product had been un-
beaten in his previous 13 starts incollege a nd in the X fL.
“I can’t put our team in tough
positions like the one out there,”
Jones said. “I have to give c redit to
L.A. and what they did on both
sides of the ball. They took away
everything that we wanted to get,
took away everything we thought
were weaknesses that we wanted
to exploit.”
The Defenders allowed
19 points total in their first two
games, s o allowing 39 to the previ-
ously winless W ildcats ( 1-2) served
as a bit of a surprise.
Los Angeles, on the other hand,
had given up a league-high eight
touchdowns entering Week 3 but
managed to shut down one of the
XfL’s top offenses, holding the
Defenders to one l ate score, which
came on a 38-yard run by Nick
Brossette in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats, who fired defensive
coordinator Pepper Johnson after
their season opener, had five take-
aways and allowed DC two third-
down conversions. The Defenders
didn’t cross midfield until the fi-
nal two m inutes of the first half.Wildcats wide receiver Tre
mcBride, who was t raded b y DC to
Los Angeles for wideout rashad
ross during training camp last
month, torched his former team
for 1 09 yards a nd t wo touchdowns
on five receptions. most of
mcBride’s production came in the
first half. The William & mary
product exited the game in the
third quarter with an apparent
injury after being sandwiched be-
tween DC defensive backs Sha-
marko Thomas and Desmond
Lawrence.
Defenders defensive end An-
thony Johnson, the former Wild-
cats captain who was traded to DC
on the eve of its shutout win
against the New York Guardians
last week, played but did not re-
cord any s tats Sunday.
Wildcats quarterback Josh
Johnson, who started four games
for the Washington redskins in
2018, had his best performance of
the season, completing 18 of
25 passes for 278 yards, three
touchdowns and no interceptions.
[email protected]First road game is a disaster for DC
Wildcats 39,
defenders 9ASSOCIATED PRESSAnders Lee scored twice, Se-
myon Varlamov made 29 saves,
and the New York Islanders won
their second straight at Nassau
Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., beat-
ing the S an Jose Sharks, 4-1.
Defenseman Devon Toews also
scored Sunday afternoon to help
the Islanders move within a point
of idle Philadelphia for t hird place
in the tightly contested m etropoli-
tan Division. The reeling Sharks
lost their fourth straight.
“ You’re only as good as your top
players and they are coming
through for us,’’ Islanders Coach
Barry Trotz said.
Varlamov also played friday
night when the Islanders downed
the Detroit red Wings to snap a
four-game losing streak. He is 19-
12-4 this season, his first with the
Islanders.
Lee, the Islanders’ captain,
opened the scoring at 6:49 of the
first, beating Sharks netminder
martin Jones. Linemates mathew
Barzal and Jordan E berle a ssisted.
San Jose’s Dylan Gambrell tied
it with his fifth goal of the cam-
paign at 1 0:36 of the opening peri-
od. radim Simek and Timo meier
had a ssists.
Lee scored again at 1:10 of the
second period, his 19th goal this
season. Toews and Barzal assisted.
Barzal leads the Islanders with
52 points and needs one point to
reach 2 00 in his career.
It was the first two-goal game
this season for the 29-year-old
Lee, who scored 28 goals last sea-
son and netted 40 goals i n 2017-18.
Lee replaced John Ta vares as cap-
tain before last season, then
signed a seven-year, $49 million
contract in July.
To ews scored to make it 3-1 at
17:38 of the second period, his
sixth goal this season. Brock Nel-
son assisted. Josh Bailey added anempty-net goal.
l saBREs 2 , JEts 1: Kyle ok-
poso enjoyed his first two-goal
game in 23 months, and Buffalo
continued its late-season playoff
push by beating visiting Winni-
peg.
The Sabres’ recent surge has
moved them into a tie for f ifth with
montreal in the Atlantic Division
standings with 66 points each and
six b ack of t hird-place Toronto.
l BlUEs 4, WilD 1: oskar
Sundqvist had a goal and a n assist,
Jordan B innington made 32 saves,
and St. Louis beat minnesota in
St. Paul.
Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn
and Ivan Barbashev also scored
for the Blues, who have won four
straight and are atop the Western
Conference standings.
l staRs 2, BlacKHaWKs 1:
Ty ler Seguin scored the tiebreak-
ing goal in the second period, and
Dallas edged visiting Chicago.
l FlaMEs 4, RED WiNGs 2:
Johnny Gaudreau and Sean mon -
ahan scored in the first period as
Calgary s tarted i ts road t rip with a
win a gainst league-worst Detroit.Hurricanes fix hole in net
The Carolina Hurricanes re-
called goaltenders Anton fors-
berg and Alex Nedeljkovic from
their American Hockey L eague af-
filiate a fter losing t wo g oaltenders
to injury and relying on an on-call
emergency netminder Saturday
night in a v ictory at Toronto.
The team lost James reimer
and Petr mrazek to injuries Satur-
day night, forcing them to use
42-year-old Zamboni driver D avid
Ayres in n et t o finish the 6 -3 win.
l liGHtNiNG: Defenseman
Zach Bogosian went from having
his contract terminated by the Sa-
bres to landing in the thick of the
playoff race with Ta mpa Bay,
which announced it had signed
Bogosian to a one-year, $1.3 mil-
lion contract.
Buffalo suspended Bogosian for
refusing to report to the minors
before placing him on uncondi-
tional waivers friday.nhl rOUnDUpNew York continues to right
itself, beats reeling San Jose
islanders 4,
sHarKs 1franchise. So I think there is a lot
of great factors for me, and I’m
glad t o be a part of it.”
Evgeni malkin came right b ack
for the Penguins, beating Holtby
with 11:10 left after he put the
puck t hrough C arlson’s l egs. That
set the stage for oshie’s winner
less t han two minutes later.
Glaring issues remain for the
Capitals, but they took some steps
in the right direction Sunday. for
just the second time in their past
nine games, the Capitals scored
first. And they showed progress
with t heir energy, p hysicality and
intensity in the opening 10 min-
utes.
“We started a lot better... and
that helps kind of ease through
some r ough spots here and there,”
Carlson said.
Vrana had the opening goal,
breaking his 11-game drought at
6:12 of the first period. The
2 3-year-old turned on the jets
after a defensive-zone faceoff.
Pittsburgh defenseman marcus
Pettersson wasn’t prepared for
that kind of speed; as Vrana shot
from close range, Pettersson fell
and went crashing into the net,
with the puck bouncing off him
and in. I t was Vrana’s 24 th goal of14:47; at the front of the net, he
knocked a rebound past Capitals
goaltender Braden Holtby. Sid-
ney Crosby gave the Penguins the
lead at 15:13, scoring on the rush
as oshie knocked him down.
Holtby made the initial save, but
the puck hit oshie and ended up
in the net.
Wilson tied the score at 2 just
76 seconds into the third period.
He beat Penguins goalie matt
murray on a breakaway during
four-on-four play; it was his
20th goal of the season and gave
him a career-high 41 points. He’s
two goals shy of matching his
career-best total, set last year in
63 games.
About 2^1 / 2 minutes later, Hage-
lin crashed hard to the net. find-
ing a rebound during a scramble
in front, he put the puck past
murray. John Carlson had the
secondary assist for his 475th ca-
reer point, breaking Calle
J ohansson’s franchise record for
points b y a defenseman.
“It’s great,” Carlson said of the
record. “I’ve been here awhile, so
that obviously helps, and I’ve
been here awhile during the
stretch of the best players I think
probably in the history of thethe season, tying last season’s
career high. He also reached the
50-point mark for the first time.
In t ypical fashion for this rival-
ry, the bad blood started early.
The intensity and physicality
boiled over at the end of the first
period, and it involved t he newest
member of the Capitals, defense-
man Brenden Dillon. Coming to
the defense of teammate Nic
Dowd near the Capitals’ net, Dil-
lon flew in as the horn sounded
and took on malkin.
With a l inesman t rying to keep
them apart, both players eventu-
ally dropped their gloves, and
Dillon landed multiple blows on
malkin. Both were assessed
d ouble m inors for roughing.
“I like to play hard, especially
against those top-end guys,”
D illon said. “malkin’s a heck of a
player. He plays a physical game,
too, sometimes. With these
r ivalry-type games, tempers run
high, and it was great.”
[email protected]again showcased his knack for
late-game heroics, throwing a
backhanded shot on net from the
right s ide a nd t hen knocking in h is
own rebound for his 25th goal
with 9:20 left.
It was oshie’s sixth goal in
eight games, and it held up as the
game-winner. Carl Hagelin a dded
an empty-net goal, his second
tally of the game, with 46.7 sec-
onds l eft.
The win didn’t come easily for
the Capitals (38-18-6, 82 points),
who entered the third period
trailing 2-1. Pittsburgh (37-18-6,
80 points) was threatening to
move two points clear atop the
metropolitan Division with a
game in hand; instead, the
C apitals are b ack on top.
“We needed a win,” Hagelin
said. “I think it was a gutsy effort.
Showed a lot of character there i n
the third. Hopefully we can get
some m omentum out of it.”
for the Capitals, the task now
becomes stringing wins together.
Even with Sunday’s much-needed
victory, questions remain. While
this performance was strides bet-
ter than many offerings during its
preceding 1-5-1 stretch, Washing-
ton still needs to show its desired
identity for a full 60 minutes.
The Capitals’ once-red-hot
sticks have cooled, their defense
has been lacking, and they have
struggled to remain tough
around their net. The distraction
that was Alex ovechkin’s march
to 700 goals has passed, and per-
haps this is a chance to use the
captain’s milestone as a spring-
board.
“The only way to work t hrough
it was to go out there and get it
done,” f orward To m Wilson said.
“It wasn’t an easy game. There
were ups and downs. That’s a
character win. It’s one win. We’re
going t o learn f rom i t. It w as great
for the t eam, but we’ve got to keep
going.”
Holding a 1-0 lead thanks to a
first-period goal by Jakub V rana,
Washington found itself in trou-
ble after the Penguins scored
twice in 26 seconds during the
second. Patric Hornqvist tied it at
capitals from D1
Caps rally past Penguins, move back into first place
Katherine Frey/the Washington Post
“that’s a character win.... it was great for the team, but we’ve got
to keep going,” said tom Wilson, who scored in the third period.Capitals’ n ext threevs. Winnipeg Jetstomorrow 7nBCsWat Winnipeg Jetsthursday 8nBCsWat M innesota Wildsunday8nBCsnRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM),
WFED (1500 AM)Capitals 5, penguins 3
Pittsburgh ........................... 0 21 —3
Washington ......................... 1 04 —5
First PErioD
scoring: 1 , Washington, Vrana 24, 6:12.
sEConD PErioD
scoring: 2 , Pittsburgh, Hornqvist 15 (Letang, Malkin),
14:47. 3, Pittsburgh, Crosby 13 (Zucker, Pettersson),
15:13.
thirD PErioD
scoring: 4 , Washington, Wilson 20 (Backstrom), 1:16. 5,
Washington, Hagelin 6 (Carlson, Eller), 4:41. 6, Pitts-
burgh, Malkin 21 (Rust), 8:50. 7, Washington, Oshie 25,
10:40. 8, Washington, Hagelin 7 (Backstrom, Oshie),
19:13 (en).
shots on goaL
Pittsburgh ........................... 8 10 18 —36
Washington ......................... 6 51 2— 23
Power-play opportunities: Pittsburgh 0 of 3; Washing-
ton 0 of 1. goalies: Pittsburgh, Murray 17-9-5 (22
shots-18 saves). Washington, Holtby 22-13-5 (36-33).
a: 1 8,573 (18,277). t: 2 :38.up negative emotions. I have no ill
feelings for people who don’t s up-
port me. I’m not proud of my
occasional reactions on the court
— my passion gets the better of
my self-control at times. I will
always admit that I do make
mistakes, and I always try to learn
from them.”
Speculation persists about the
relationships among the Big
Three, particularly Djokovic’s
rapport with the other two.
federer vs. Nadal remains the
sport’s biggest r ivalry, b ut the two
are friendly off the court. recentpublic interactions among the
three stars suggest warmer con-
nections, and Djokovic credited
his nemeses with shaping him as
a player.
“A lthough it was not at the
beginning of my c areer, I can now
say that it is a pleasure to play in
the same era,” Djokovic said.
“There are many connecting
points and similarities between
the three of us. one of the biggest
is the championship mentality.
We pull each other toward suc-
cess.”
Djokovic, who is set to play inBY JEFF GREERBELGRADE, SERBiA — Novak
Djokovic emerged from a court
bubble at his riverfront tennis
center Tuesday in a puffy blue
jacket and a red-white-and-blue
pom beanie, with the smile of a
player brimming with confidence
and growing in strength.
The world’s No. 1 player this
month claimed his 17 th Grand
Slam title with a comeback victo-
ry in the Australian open final,
bringing him within three of rog-
er federer’s record of 20 major
men’s singles titles and within
two of rafael Nadal. The win
came after Djokovic and his na-
tive Serbia topped Nadal’s Spain
for the inaugural ATP Cup, a
roaring start to 2020 that
prompted the 32-year-old to say
this could be “maybe my best
season.”
That triumphant mood was
met with a hero’s welcome and a
hint of Super Bowl media day
mayhem at a news conference
here in Djokovic’s hometown,
with 90 minutes of questions
from Serbian olympians and
more than 60 media members
that ranged from the bizarre to
the adulatory. A s tends to happen
in Djokovic interviews, the con-
versation offered another oppor-
tunity to appraise the complicat-
ed relationship he has with both
tennis fans and his chief rivals.
fairly or not, Djokovic doesn’t
receive the near-universal, enthu-
siastic embrace from fans en-
joyed by federer and Nadal, who
combined with Djokovic have
won 13 consecutive Grand Slam
finals and 56 total since 2003.
That was evident in mel-
bourne, where many fans rooted
for Austrian underdog Dominic
Thiem in the final, even as Djok-
ovic pursued his record-expand-
ing eighth tournament title. He
drew criticism for his in-match
outburst at chair umpire Damien
Dumusois, whom Djokovic
tapped on the foot and sarcasti-
cally told, “You made yourself
famous,” f or calling two time vio-
lations at a critical juncture.
The incident, among other
flare-ups and splashy tabloid
comments from his father, Srd-
jan, over the years, added ammu-
nition for Djokovic’s detractors.
In Belgrade, Djokovic down-
played the notion he is disliked,
saying he doesn’t get that impres-
sion, “especially off the court.” He
worried that feeding into that
narrative might create an un-
wanted Serbia-against-the-world
mentality among fans in this Bal-
kan country of 7 million.
“Even if that was true, why
would I want to add fuel to the
fire?” Djokovic said through an
interpreter. “I don’t want to stirthe Dubai Te nnis Championships
starting monday, is the hot hand
of late. He has claimed five Grand
Slam titles since 2018 — to Nadal’s
three and federer’s o ne — and has
won 20 of 27 meetings against
them in the past five years. At the
Australian open, he beat federer
in the semifinals and along with
the title took the No. 1 ranking
from Nadal, who lost to Thiem in
the other semifinal. Goran Ivani-
sevic, the 2001 Wimbledon cham-
pion who is now one of Djokovic’s
coaches, told reporters in Austra-
lia that Djokovic has been “by far
the best” o f the three over the past
nine years.
In melbourne, federer said
Djokovic’s serve looked “very sol-
id” a fter struggles stemming from
an elbow injury hampered his
service in previous seasons and
required surgery in 2018. At his
peak, federer added, Djokovic
does “so many things that can
cover a problem, if there were
one.”
Tuesday’s news conference re-
inforced the sense that Djokovic
feels as self-assured as ever. Two
videos posted online recently fur-
thered that — one captured him
playing a doubles match here on a
chalk-drawn street court with
three boys, and another showed
him and his wife, Jelena, singing a
duet at a dinner hosted by their
charitable foundation.That Djokovic is full of verve,
unfettered by off-court chatter,
could spell another big year.
He has twice won three of the
four majors in a calendar year
and is one of three men to hold all
four major titles at o nce. But 2020
offers a greater incentive: the
potential to become the first man
to win the Golden Slam — the four
majors plus an olympic gold
medal. Steffi Graf, the German
who at the height of her career
dominated women’s tennis, won
a Golden Slam in 1988.
Djokovic’s only olympic medal
came in 2008, when he won
bronze. He hoped the ATP Cup,
the 24-team remake of the old
World Te am Cup, might portend a
better olympics this summer. He
edged four of the top 15 players in
the world during Serbia’s run and
said he will remember the experi-
ence “for a long time.”
In a televised interview with
Serbian outlet Sport Klub, Djok-
ovic’s mother, Dijana, said the
ATP Cup was “bursting with emo-
tions” and that she could see how
much it meant to her son. Ivani-
sevic said the tournament “really
lifted” Djokovic after a disap-
pointing loss to federer in No-
vember’s ATP finals in London.
“The time has come,” Djokovic
said of the olympics, “for a new
medal.”
[email protected]Djokovic, hottest of B ig Three, says this might just be his best year yet
issei Kato/reuters
Novak Djokovic has a chance to be the first man to win the Golden
slam — victories in the four majors plus an Olympic gold medal.BY SAMANTHA PELLThe Washington Capitals ac-
quired veteran winger Ilya Koval-
chuk from the montreal Cana-
diens for a 2020 third-round
draft pick, the Capitals an-
nounced Sunday night. montreal
agreed to retain 50 percent of
Kovalchuk’s salary and cap hit,
which was $700,000 for the full
season.
“Ilya is a talented offensive
player who we feel will provide us
with additional depth and flexi-
bility up front,” Capitals General
manager Brian macLellan said in
a statement. “He is a skilled
forward who can make plays and
contribute to our offensive game.”
Kovalchuk, 36, is the fifth rus-
sian on the Capitals, joining Alex
ovechkin, Dmitry orlov, Evgeny
Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov.
The 6-foot-3, 222-pound veteran
recorded 13 points (six goals,
seven assists) in 22 games with
the Canadiens and another nine
points (three goals, six assists) in
17 games with the Los Angeles
Kings this season. Kovalchuk, the
No. 1 pick in the 2001 NHL draft,
led the league in goals in 2003-04
and is a three-time all-star. He
has 872 points in 919 games
across 13 NHL seasons. He left
the NHL in 2013 and spent five
seasons playing professionally in
russia before signing with the
Kings in 2018.
Los Angeles released Koval-
chuk in December after he
cleared unconditional waivers,
terminating the remainder of his
three-year, $18.75 million con-
tract. montreal signed him to a
one-year, two-way contract in
January.
The low-cost, low-risk move
ahead of monday’s 3 p.m. trade
deadline was Washington’s sec-
ond acquisition in the past weekafter it added defenseman Bren-
den Dillon from the San Jose
Sharks on Tuesday. The Capitals
are expected to pay Kovalchuk
about $76,000 of his prorated
salary, according to multiple re-
ports.
macLellan told reporters this
past week that he was open to
having conversations with other
teams to add more pieces before
the deadline.
Kovalchuk, who is a right-
handed shot, could be added to
the right side of the Capitals’
third line with Lars Eller and Carl
Hagelin. Washington also could
move Hagelin down to the fourth
line and keep richard Panik on
the third. Kovalchuk was averag-
ing 18:54 of ice time in montreal,
up from 15:25 with the Kings this
season. Wherever he slots in,
Kovalchuk probably will get less
playing time with the Capitals.
Kovalchuk is expected to be at
the team’s m orning skate Tuesday
ahead of its game that night
against the Winnipeg Jets.
[email protected]Capitals trade for veteran Kovalchuk
Washington gives up
a 2020 third-round pick
in deal with Canadiens