The Capitals center made some adjustments to his iconic shootout move, which has received mixed criticism over the years.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — As the Washington Capitals headed to a shootout with the Carolina Hurricanes, Evgeny Kuznetsov made his way to center ice amid a chorus of boos with a smile. It was time for his iconic "Kuzy Crawl," his slow-motion shootout move that has stunned goalies over the last few seasons — but this time was different.

Kuznetsov had some more tricks up his sleeve and revamped the move, which hadn't gone his way on the last couple of attempts. First, he switched sides, then came in slow, as usual. After that, he pushed the puck up to himself and collected his own pass before making a couple of quick stickhandles and firing. And, before Pyotr Kochetkov even had time to take it all in, the puck was in the back of the net.

That goal stood as the shootout winner, and Kuznetsov was back on the board.

"I felt like there was a spot that was wide open over there five-hole," Kuznetsov told The Hockey News. "To be able to do that, I gotta come from another side, so switch it up a little bit and glad that it was a goal."

The 31-year-old said that a lot has gone into updating the move, which had become well-known — and well-criticized. For him, it's not so much a well-rehearsed, go-to move, but one that can adapt based on what he sees and who his opponent is.

For Kuznetsov, though, the golden rule is —  fittingly — the same as a magician's: never reveal your secret. Or for him, the final ace up his sleeve.

"It's a lot of things, a lot of stuff that goes (into it), from the video, stuff like that. And some of the goalies that I played before, I know how they're going to play. It feels like whatever you do, you gotta hide the finishing part," Kuznetsov said.

Kochetkov gave Kuznetsov a glare as he skated back to receive congratulations from his teammates, and of course, the crawl continued to receive criticism, with some believing that the delay was unfair to netminders and others calling for a shot clock or timer.

For Kuznetsov, it's all noise. Enjoyable noise.

"I don't give a f--- what they think," he laughed, but then more seriously explained, "I know people may not like, but you know, so far it's been working for me."

As for whether there will be more tweaks coming to the crawl, Kuznetsov suggested that's within the realm of possibility.

"I'm gonna continue to change some things like that," he smiled.