The Washington Capitals saw their five-game points
streak end in a spectacular way on Saturday night, dropping a 7-1 decision to
the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal. On
Tuesday the Caps took their one-game losing streak to Winnipeg for the first of
three visits to Manitoba this season.
The Jets were looking for their first win of the
season, carrying a 0-4-0 record into Tuesday night’s contest. One of those losses was a 3-1 loss to the
Caps at Verizon Center just last Friday.
Winnipeg followed that game up with a 4-3 loss in Philadelphia despite
unloading 47 shots at Flyer goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.
The Caps, meanwhile, had two full days off – their longest
hiatus of the young season – to lick their wounds. Having a chance to ponder the defensive
meltdown in Montreal paid some early dividends for the Caps in this
contest. The visitors resorted to the
style that served them well in the opening round playoff win over Boston last
spring. Winnipeg had difficulty getting
shots to the net, leaving goalie Braden Holtby unchallenged for long stretches
of the opening period. At the ten-minute
mark of the period the Caps had twice as many blocked shots (six) as shots on
goal allowed (three).
By the same token the Caps were mounting little
pressure on Jets’ goalie Ondrej Pavelec, getting his fifth straight start in
Winnipeg’s crease. The Caps went almost
14 minutes between shots on goal, but they seemed happy, at least in the early
going, to trade the lack of chances with the home team. The teams went to the locker room scoreless
after 20 minutes, the Jets leading on the shot meter, 6-3.
The second period looked a lot like the first in the
first few minutes – few shots, fewer scoring chances, with the sense that both
teams were content to counterpunch. The
Jets were presented an opportunity in the period’s fifth minute. Karl Alzner was whistled for a hooking
penalty that both he and the Caps’ bench argued. Alzner, who had a total of 63 penalty minutes
in 220 career games, was charged with his first career misconduct penalty,
getting an extra ten minutes for his effort.
The Jets not only had a power play, but arguably the
Caps’ best shutdown defender on the bench for most of the remainder of the
period. The lack of offensive rhythm in
the gameto this point seemed to play havoc with the Jet’s ability to mount any
power play pressure. Specifically, the
Jets kept sending shots wide of goal, piling up half a dozen missed shots on
the power play but only a single shot on goal that was turned away by Holtby.
With the Caps dodging that bullet, they got a chance
of their own mid-way through the period when Tobias Enstrom went off for
holding. The Caps, however, had the same
problem as the Jets in terms of their ability to direct shots on net. Their problem was compounded by equipment
malfunctions, Alex Ovechkin breaking two sticks on the man-advantage trying to
take one-timers.
The teams exchanged power plays once more before the
end of the period – Brooks Laich going off for slashing and Dustin Byfuglien
for the same infraction – but neither team could convert the opportunity into a
goal.. The teams went off scoreless after 40 minutes.
The third period offered more of the same – few
scoring chances, infrequent shots on goal, and no changes on the
scoreboard. One had the feeling this
game might go all the way to the trick shot competition to decide a winner. However, with the clock winding down under
ten minutes Winnipeg finally grabbed some momentum and started putting pressure
on the Capitals’ net. The Jets had an excellent opportunity to break
the deadlock when Evander Kane was open for a shot to Holtby’s right. The puck
hit the post on the near side and rebounded to the far side of the crease.
Olli Jokinen was about to pounce on the loose puck
when Mike Green appeared to sweep the puck out of the crease with his
hand. The referee whistled play dead and
immediately pointed to center ice, awarding the Jets a penalty shot for
covering the puck in the crease with a gloved hand. Green argued his case to referee Kelly
Sutherland to no avail, and Jokinen was picked to take the free shot. Jokinen beat Holtby by pulling him to the ice
and deking to his backhand, giving the Jets a 1-0 lead at the 10:13 mark of the
period.
That goal might have held up, but for a defensive
breakdown by the Jets late in the period.
Zach Bogosian and Ron Hainsey got their signals crossed exchanging
passes at the top of the Caps’ zone, and Hainsey whiffed on a return pass to
Bogosian. The puck was picked up by Alex
Ovechkin, who took it down the left side with Hainsey trying to maintain
position in front of him. As Ovechkin
crossed the blue line he feinted a cut to the middle, and Hainsey bit on the
move. Ovechkin chipped the puck to his
backhand and circled around Hainsey to the net.
With Pavelec hugging the near post, Ovechkin flicked a backhand that
snuck under Pavelec’ left arm on the far side and into the Winnipeg net to tie the
game.
The game looked set to go to extra time, but with
the clock running out the Jets fired the puck around the end boards, the puck
coming out to Byfuglien at the point.
The big defenseman fired a shot that appeared to be going wide, but it
was low to the ice, and Jim Slater managed to deflect the puck behind Holtby at
the far post to give the Jets a 2-1 lead with just seven seconds in regulation.
Jets 2 – Capitals 1
