The teams felt each other out over the first half of the
opening period, but then the Caps broke through. Nicklas Backstrom broke a 21-game streak
without a goal at the 11:54 mark. Tom
Wilson picked off a pass in the Chicago zone and fed Alex Ovechkin at the goal
line to the left of goalie Anton Forsberg.
Ovechkin bump-passed the puck to Backstrom in the slot, and Backstrom
snapped a shot past Forsberg’s blocker to give the Caps the lead.
Three minutes later, the Caps had a two-goal lead. Tom
Wilson got one of his own when he took a pass from Christian Djoos on the far
edge of the left wing circle, turned, and wristed a shot that eluded Forsberg,
certainly a chance the goalie would want back.
The Caps poured it on less than a minute later when Wilson got
behind the Chicago defense. With three
defenders in pursuit, Wilson broke in and tried to split Forsberg’s pads, but
the puck was kicked back out by the netminder.
The puck slid between the skates of Artem Anisimov onto the stick of the
trailing Alex Ovechkin, who didn’t miss.
His shot beat Forsberg on the glove side, and it was 3-0, 15:22 into the
period.
Chicago got one back before on a Lance Bouma goal, and
things settled down after that through most of the second period. However, late in the middle frame Brett
Connolly restored the Caps’ three-goal lead on a power play. Failing on two attempts to clear the puck,
Chicago was left to defend an Ovechkin shot from the top of the left wing
circle. J-F Berube, in relief of
Forsberg, kicked out the shot to his right, but Connolly was in perfect
position to collect the puck and wire it past Berube on the short side to make
it 4-1 with just 1:28 left in the period.
Mid-way through the third period, Evgeny Kuznetsov got on
the board, converting some back and forth between Ovechkin and himself. From the left wing corner, Ovechkin paddled
the puck back to Kuznetsov coming down the wall. Kuznetsov sent it back down the wall to
Ovechkin behind the Blackhawk net. As
Ovechkin was receiving the puck, Kuznetsov darted to the net, putting himself
in position for a return pass from Ovechkin that he snapped past Berube to make
it 5-1 at the 10:23 mark.
Jonathan Toews made things a little more respectable for the
visitors with under four minutes left with an unassisted goal off a
breakaway. It got Chicago close enough
to pull their goaltender late on a power play, and Wilson made them pay for it,
flicking the puck from the left wing circle in his own end the length of the
ice and in at the 17:40 mark for the final 6-2 margin.
Other stuff…
-- Tom Wilson recorded the first four-point game of his
career (2-2-4) and the 45th in Capitals history. He joined Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom,
and Evgeny Kuznetsov among Capitals with four-point games this season.
-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal was the game-winner, his 97th
career game-winning goal, breaking a tie with Guy Lafleur for eighth place,
all-time. Next up, Jarome Iginla with
101.
-- Nicklas Backstrom had his third game this season with
three or more points (1-2-3). Only
Ovechkin (79) and those two centers from Pittsburgh (Sidney Crosby: 96, and
Evgeni Malkin: 72) have more such games since Backstrom came into the league in
2007-2008 (67), Backstrom breaking a tie with Patrick Kane in the process.
-- Ovechkin had his 23rd career game of four or
more points (1-3-4), second most since he came into the league in 2005-2006
(Crosby: 30).
-- Perhaps odd for a team that scored six goals, but only 12
of 18 skaters recorded shots on goal for the Caps. Three of them were defensemen – Dmitry Orlov,
Christian Djoos, and Brooks Orpik. The
other three were nominal centers – Chandler Stephenson, Lars Eller, and Travis
Boyd.
-- Matt Niskanen became the second player this season to
record a plus-4 in a game for the Caps.
Ovechkin did it in a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on October 28th.
-- The six shots on goal recorded by Ovechkin led the team
and was the ninth time this season that he finished with more than five shots
in a game, breaking a tie with Vladimir Tarasenko for most in the league.
-- Chicago enjoyed a big advantage in shot attempts at fives
(59.65 percent Corsi-for, from Corsica.hockey), but…score effects?
-- Devante Smith-Pelly did not record a point, but otherwise
gets the buffet coupon for the game… two shots on goal, two missed shots, two
credited hits, a giveaway, a takeaway, three blocked shots and a faceoff taken
(lost). All in just 11:03 of ice time.
-- John Carlson skated 25:47, the 23rd time this
season his ice time exceeded 25 minutes.
That ties Minnesota’s Ryan Suter and Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty for most
in the league.
-- Braden Holtby stopped 37 of 39 shots, leaving him with a
.937 save percentage on home ice this season, third best in the league among
goalies with at least 200 minutes played on home ice (Sergei Bobrovsky: .942;
Aaron Dell: .941).
In the end…
It is hard to find a lot to complain about in this one
(well, you Corsi-freaks might have some things to chew on). The Backstrom-Ovechkin-Wilson top line had
four goals and 11 points. The power play
scored a goal (1-for-3); the penalty killers were perfect (4-for-4). They got out to a lead, built it, and stifled
the Blackhawks when they might have gained some momentum with their late first
period goal. They took advantage of a
team with issues in goal, with Corey Crawford out for the Blackhawks, chasing
one goalie and taking advantage of his relief, even if the chances were not as
plentiful.
The Caps are now 3-1-0 on this five-game home stand and have
climbed to within a point of the Metropolitan Division lead. Their 15 wins in regulation or overtime are
tied with Pittsburgh for most in the division (four teams have 14). They will get to do some direct damage on the
division in their next contest, one against the New York Rangers to close out
what would be a very successful home stand with a win.
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