The Caps broke on top in the second period, taking advantage
of a lapse by the Avs. Chris Bigras was
behind the net waiting for a sliding puck to arrive, but he appeared to look up
to survey the situation before he had control of the puck. Jay Beagle took advantage by stripping Bigras
of the puck when he tried to reverse it along the boards, and sneaking it
between the post and the left pad of goalie Semyon Varlamov to make it 1-0, 8”50
into the period.
Four minutes later the Caps doubled their lead. On a power play, Evgeny Kuznetsov circled
though the right wing faceoff circle and fed the puck to Marcus Johansson to
the goal line extended to the left of Varlamov.
Johansson stepped out and slid the puck across to Alex Ovechkin, who
snuck behind Gabriel Landeskog on the weak side. Ovechkin stuffed the loose puck into the net
before Varlamov could scramble across and it was 2-0 at the 12:57 mark.
Less than two minutes later the Caps struck again. A slap shot by Jason Chimera sailed wide to
the left of Varlamov and skittered out to Mike Richards at the left point. A Richards drive was redirected by Chimera
from between the hash marks past Varlamov’s right pad at the 14:16 mark to make
it 3-0.
The Avs got one back on a Jarome Iginla power play goal in
the last minute of the second period. It
gave the Avalanche some measure of momentum going into the third period, but
the Caps held firm over the first 15 minutes of the final frame. Colorado got within a goal with some hustle
in the late stages of the period. Blake
Comeau chipped the puck deep into the Caps’ end, then worked his way around
Karl Alzner to get it back. He fed the
puck in front for a point-blank shot by Carl Soderburg that goalie Braden
Holtby turned aside. However, Landeskog
jumped on the rebound and batted it over Holtby to make it 3-2 at the 14”21
mark.
Colorado got no closer, though, and T.J. Oshie scored an
empty net goal with some hustle of his own, outracing Erik Johnson to prevent
an icing call and tapping the puck into the open net for the final 4-2 margin.
Other stuff…
-- The Caps are now 23-2-5 all time in games where Jay
Beagle scores a goal.
-- We noted in the prognosto that the Caps were not likely to go over 50 percent Corsi-for at 5-on-5 for the
season because they would have to go plus-51 in shot attempts to get
there. Well, they almost did get
there. Overall, the Caps out-attempted
the Avalanche, 83-37, a plus-46. That
advantage was plus-37 at 5-on-5 (67-30).
-- The Caps had more high-danger scoring chances (18) than
the Avalanche had total scoring chances (16; numbers from war-on-ice.com).
-- Ovechkin’s power play goal made it three games in a row
in which the Caps scored with the man advantage.
-- The 47 shots on goal was a season high for Washington and
the most they had in a game since recording 50 in a 2-1 Gimmick win over the
Buffalo Sabres on December 29, 2013. It
was the most they had in a game in regulation since finishing with 47 in a 5-2
win over the Atlanta Thrashers on April 9, 2010.
-- Beagle also had an assist in the game, making it his
first multi-point game since October 22nd, a 3-2 win over the
Vancouver Canucks.
-- Ovechkin finished with eight shots on goal, the most he
had in a single game since he had nine in a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on
February 22nd.
-- Tom Wilson and Brooks Orpik tied for the team lead with
six credited hits apiece. It was Wilson’s
hit on Nikita Zadorov – a shoulder-to-chest hit as Zadorov was skating behind
his own net with his head down – after just starting a shift that ended Zadorov’s
night early in the second period.
-- Daniel Winnik had only one shot attempt (miss) in 13
minutes of ice time, but he did have an assist on the Oshie empty net goal and
finished with a plus-2. That makes five
points in his last eight games (2-3-5).
-- Braden Holtby allowed two goals, the fifth straight game
in which he allowed two or fewer (4-0-1, 1.18, .953). It was his 47th win, tying Bernie
Parent (1973-1974 with Philadelphia) and Roberto Luongo (2006-2007 with Vancouver)
for second place in all time wins in a single season. Only Martin Brodeur, with 48 wins in
2006-2007 for New Jersey, stands in front of him.
In the end…
The hockey gods toyed with Caps fans, keeping the game close
on the scoreboard even if it wasn’t nearly so close on the ice. It is was makes hockey such an exasperating
game at times. It took the Caps a while
to be rewarded for their efforts, but when they broke through in the second
period one had the feeling that it was their game, especially given the Caps’
success in games when taking a lead into the third period (35-0-1 coming into
this game). It was a fine effort to set
a franchise record for wins in a season (55) and extend their franchise record
for road wins (26). Another step on a
remarkable journey this season for the Caps.
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