Fans had their chance to say goodbye to Brooks Laich, traded
to the Maple Leafs last weekend after appearing in 807 regular season and
playoff games over 12 years with the Caps. Then the Caps tended to business.
They opened the scoring late in the first period from a very
unexpected source. Martin Marincin tried to bang the puck up the wall and out
of danger, but the attempt was flagged down by Evgeny Kuznetsov, who worked it
to T.J. Oshie skating around the top of the right wing circle. Oshie kicked the
puck to his stick, then slid it over to Taylor Chorney skating down the left
side. Chorney wristed a shot that sailed over goalie Jonathan Bernier’s left
shoulder, and it was 1-0 at the 18:15 mark.
The Caps made it 2-0 just 27 seconds later, this time from a
much more familiar source. Oshie got it started when he beat a Leaf to a loose
puck and directed it to the right wing wall. He followed it up, pestering Nazem
Kadri long enough for Nicklas Backstrom to grab the puck and move in through
the faceoff circle. With two Leafs bracketing him, he slid a pass past a third
Leaf where Alex Ovechkin one-timed it past Bernier at the 18:43 mark.
Toronto got one back early in the second period when Nikita
Soshnikov rang a shot off the pipe and behind goalie Philipp Grubauer for his
first NHL career goal at the 1:37 mark. The Caps held off the Leafs for the
rest of the period, but Toronto tied it in the third when Colin Greening took a
pass from Peter Holland in the high slot and fired a shot over Grubauer’s glove
to make it 2-2 at the 8:16 mark.
Then a Toronto rookie made a mistake. Soshnikov, who scored his first NHL goal
earlier in the game but also took a double minor penalty in the second period,
was sent to the box for his third minor penalty of the game for boarding Karl
Alzner. The Caps needed just 11 seconds
to make Soshnikov and the Maple Leafs pay.
Oshie, who had an excellent game in all, won the ensuing faceoff, and
the puck found its way to the stick of Nicklas Backstrom. Looking to thread a pass across to Ovechkin
on the other side of the ice and finding that path blocked by a Toronto defense
leaning in that direction, Backstrom eased the puck out to Matt Niskanen at the
top of the zone. Niskanen fired a shot that Marcus Johansson, screening at the
top of the crease, jumped away from at the last instant, and the puck sailed
over Bernier’s glove to put the Caps ahead for good, and the Caps skated off
with a 3-2 win.
Other stuff…
-- After Matt Niskanen scored with 10:29 left in the game,
the Caps would record the next nine shots, depriving the Maple Leafs of a shot
on goal for 9:01 after the Niskanen strike.
Toronto did close with a flurry – three shots in the final 1:28 and a
lot of commotion around the Washington net in the last seconds – but it was too
little, too late.
-- Brooks Laich logged 14:17 in his return to Verizon
Center, 4:10 of it on the power play. It
was the first time this season he recorded any power play ice time.
-- Nicklas Backstrom had two assists. That makes 15 multi-point games this season,
tied for tenth in the league. It was the
109th time in his career he recorded a multi-assist game. Since he came into the league, only Sidney
Crosby (111), Joe Thornton (115), and Henrik Sedin (126) have more.
-- Maybe you can see the signs that the Caps are starting to
get ready for the playoffs by not pushing their big guns too hard. Case in point. Alex Ovechkin logged 17:40 in ice time in
this game, the second consecutive game he finished with less than 19 minutes of
ice time. The combined 36:17 of ice time
over his last two games is his lowest in consecutive games in almost two months,
having logged 35:45 in consecutive games on January 5th and 7th against Boston
and the New York Islanders. It is
something that bears watching.
-- What a game T.J. Oshie had – three assists (a personal
best as a Capital), plus-2, two shots on goal, a shot attempt blocked, a missed
shot, a hit, three takeaways, a blocked shot, and he won two of three
draws. He gets the all-you-can-eat
buffet coupon.
-- Daniel Winnik played in his first game for the Caps and
had modest success against his old club.
He logged 13:11 in ice time, 2:07 of it killing penalties, had a shot on
goal, three hits, and a takeaway.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov might get a buffet coupon of his
own. He was not quite as evident in his
all-around impact as Oshie, but he was all over the ice. An assist, a shot on goal, two shot attempts
blocked, a missed shot, a hit, a takeaway, and he won half of the 12 draws he
took. He has points in four of his last
five games and has not gone consecutive games without a point since January 7th
and 9th against the Islanders and Rangers.
Since then he is 7-22-29, plus-11, in 22 games.
-- Connor Carrick recorded an assist against his former
Capital teammates and recorded a pair of hits in 14:18 of ice time, 1:57 of it
on the Maple Leaf power play.
-- Philipp Grubauer continues to shine when called
upon. His 27-save performance was solid,
continuing a fine run. In his last 11
appearances he is 4-3-0, 1.68, .943.
-- The Caps seemed to fight off a touch of boredom, or
perhaps distraction given they were facing former teammates for the first
time. They dominated possession in the
first period with 12 shot attempt to five for Toronto at 5-on-5. Toronto turned the tables in the middle
frame, out-attempting the Caps 19-10 at fives.
Washington carried the third, 14-13, aided by a fine defensive effort
after the Niskanen go-ahead goal (numbers from war-on-ice.com).
In the end…
No, it wasn’t as pretty at one might have expected against a
team as young and struggling as much as Toronto is. On the other hand, this is the sort of the “we
can’t seem to get up for teams like this” kind of game the Caps would have lost
outright in previous years. They got a
chance to give Brooks Laich a proper send-off, and they won the game. Frankly, that’s usually considered a pretty
good night. But now it’s time to stiffen
up and buckle down. Back-to-back games
against the Rangers and in Boston against the Bruins are sure to pose a
considerable challenge. The “B” game won’t
do against that pair of opponents.
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