Jordan Kyrou Scores First Goal for the Washington Capitals

By Taki Panos

A new jersey always feels a little strange until the first goal goes in. For Jordan Kyrou, that moment came on Sunday at Capital One Arena, when he scored his first goal as a member of the Washington Capitals against the Seattle Kraken. The night did not end the way he would have liked, with Seattle winning 5-3, as NHL.com reported, but some milestones matter more than the final score.

For a player starting a new chapter after a long run in St. Louis, getting that first one out of the way matters. Washington acquired Kyrou from the Blues on June 23. He spent his whole NHL career in St. Louis before that, and he arrives as a proven scorer with several 30-goal seasons on his record. Every new arrival feels the weight of a first goal until it comes, and now that weight is gone.

Seattle had taken an early lead through Kaapo Kakko. Then, at 11:41 of the first period, Kyrou took a cross-ice pass from Cole Hutson and scored from the bottom of the left circle to tie it 1-1, as NHL.com described it. Hockey-Reference credits Hutson and Ryan Leonard with the assists. Two young teammates setting up the new man is not a bad way to start a relationship.

It was a classic Kyrou finish: quick hands, a shot released before the goalie could settle, and a lot of speed in the build-up. Anyone who watched him in St. Louis has seen that goal plenty of times. The only thing different on Sunday was the color of the sweater, and for a player in his first weeks with a new club, scoring at home in that sweater is worth a lot.

The Capitals actually led for a while. Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal of the season later in the first period, which always gets the Washington crowd going. According to Hockey-Reference, that goal came at 16:47 of the first, set up by Ilya Protas and Aliaksei Protas. For a few minutes, it looked like the new signing and the franchise icon were going to share the headlines on a happy night.

Then Jordan Eberle answered for Seattle with just 11 seconds left in the period, which is about the most deflating time a team can concede. Frederick Gaudreau put the Kraken ahead in the second period, and Boone Jenner leveled it at 3-3 only 46 seconds into the third. It was an entertaining game for a neutral, if not for the home fans, and it felt like whoever scored next would win it.

Seattle scored next. Jared McCann broke the tie at 14:33 of the third period, and Ryan Winterton added an insurance goal for a 5-3 Seattle win. Goaltender Thompson made 22 saves for Washington, NHL.com reported. The loss left the Capitals at 3-2-0 after two straight wins, which in October is a dent, not a crisis. Nobody wins or loses a season in the first week.

There were positives to take from it, though. Washington had young players involved all over the scoresheet, and Kyrou's goal came from a nice piece of vision by Hutson, which is the kind of connection a coaching staff loves to see develop early in a season. A new winger and a young passer finding each other at speed is the sort of thing that tends to get better with time.

For Greek fans, Kyrou is easy to cheer for. He is the grandson of Greek immigrants, as The Athletic told in a profile when he was breaking into the league, and The National Herald has long followed him as a Greek-Canadian success story. Hockey is not the first sport most people associate with Greece, which makes a Greek name lighting the lamp in the NHL all the more fun.

The diaspora has always had a way of showing up in unexpected places, and North American hockey rinks are one of them. If you want to see where many of those families settled, our map of the biggest Greek communities in America is a good place to start. Plenty of those communities will be checking the Capitals box score a little more closely this season.

My take: first goals in a new city are about relief as much as anything. Now that it has come, Kyrou can just play his game, and on a team with Ovechkin chasing goals of his own, there should be plenty of chances. Speed, quick hands and a fresh start are a good combination. The Capitals did not bring him in for one goal, and I doubt it stays at one for long.

For more stories like this one, keep an eye on our Greek Sports section. One down in Washington. The rest of the season is a lot of hockey, and Kyrou has plenty of time to make it count.

Sources: NHL.com, Hockey-Reference, The Athletic, The National Herald.

Image: Jordan Kyrou in 2019 by TheAHL, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).