When the Capitals traded for Scott Walker, I don’t think they were banking on his scoring ability. He’s certainly had the ability to put the puck in the net in the past, hitting 25 goals twice in his career, but he hasn’t scored more than 20 since 2007 and has just eight goals the past two seasons.
Yet goal scoring is what they got Thursday night, and they were timely goals as well. With the Lightning and Capitals trading goals in the third period, Walker scored twice -- including the game-winning goal.
“Sometimes I caught myself thinking a little bit, but it’s a learning process and the guys on the bench, [Boyd Gordon] was great, [Jason] Chimera was awesome,” Walker said afterwards. “They helped me out a lot because that’s what you need when you are the new guy coming to the bench.”
“Most of you know my stats [just 3 goals coming into tonight’s game] and they’re not a huge part of my game, but you like to chip in where you can,” Walker said. “Definitely makes you feel good ... It’s nice to chip in and help out, but like I said, the two points are what I’m looking for every night.”