Fortunately, the Washington Capitals aren’t paying Brooks Orpik for his goal-scoring prowess. That means his contribution tonight can be regarded as a bonus more than anything.
In the first campaign of Orpik’s five-year, $27.5 million deal, the defenseman didn’t score a single goal in 78 contests. It took him less than one period to find the back of the net this season, as you can see above. He needs just one more to tie his career high.
For Orpik, it was his first goal since April 21, 2014 during a playoff game with the Penguins. If we were just to count his regular season markers, then Orpik hadn’t scored since March 16, 2014.
With this goal, he now has 14 markers in 781 career regular season games.
Orpik’s goal gave Washington a 2-0 lead, but New Jersey rallied back late in the first period to tie the game before the intermission.