They
have life in them yet.
The
Washington Capitals avoided elimination from the post-season on Tuesday night
when they defeated the St. Louis Blues, 4-1, at Scottrade Center in St.
Louis. It was a case of the big guns
stepping up – Alex Oveckhin recorded his 50th goal, Nicklas Backstrom scored
twice, and Braden Holtby took advantage of an unexpected start to stop 28 of 29
shots to get his 22nd win of the season.
Ovechkin
got the Caps on the board first late in the second period on a power play after
St. Louis missed a chance for a shorthanded goal at the other end. After Vladimir Sobotka’s shorthanded drive
sailed high and wide over Holtby’s blocker, the Caps took the puck the other
way and reset their 1-3-1 power play formation.
John Carlson laid out the puck to the left wing circle where Ovechkin
one-timed it to the far side past goalie Ryan Miller’s glove, off the pipe, and
in for the game’s first tally.
St. Louis
got it back early in the second period when, for what seemed to be part of a
never-ending loop of film this season, the Caps could not clear the puck out of
their own end. Steve Ott finally held
the puck in at the left point and threw to the Washington net. Julien Brouillette tried to block the shot,
but the puck slid past where Maxim Lapierre kicked it to his stick and flicked
it past Holtby to tie the game.
Less
than six minutes later the Caps regained the lead they would not give
back. It was all Mikhail Grabovski. The Caps center-turned-winger skated the puck
into the Blues zone and dialed his own number for a shot on Miller from the
high slot. He whiffed on the attempt but
maintained control of the puck, turning through the left wing circle. He stopped, looked over the defense, and with
Eric Fehr occupying Alex Pietrangelo in the left wing circle, Grabovski stepped
up and fired the puck past Miller to make it 2-1, Caps.
Then,
the Hammer of Thor pounded the Blues into submission (geez, cuz… a little much,
huh?). In the space of 96 seconds
spanning the second and third periods, Nicklas Backstrom ended the suspense
over whether the Caps could hold their lead.
At the 18:50 mark of the period, the Caps finished a play that took
advantage of a gambit that has been played on them over much of the season –
gaining the offensive zone with speed.
Alex Ovechkin skated the puck smartly down the right wing into the Blues’
zone, leading a three-man rush. As
Ovechkin moved the puck down the wall, Backstrom was filling in the
middle. With Barrett Jackman backing in
too low in the slot and T.J. Oshie unable to close the distance from behind in
time, Backstrom took a feed from Ovechkin between the circles and snapped the
puck off the far post and in to make it
3-1.
That
would not be the last consequential action of the second period. Jaden Schwartz got caught with his hand in the
cookie jar, or more precisely on John Carlson’s stick, with 53 seconds left in
the period to put the Blues down a man for the rest of the frame and to start
the third period. Just 16 seconds into
the final period Backstrom put the cherry on the sundae by finishing off a fine
three-man passing play. John Carlson
started it at the top of the offensive zone by hinting at a shot, then sending
the puck to Alex Ovechkin in the left wing circle. Having been burned already by Ovechkin on a
one-timer earlier in the game, the entire Blues defense slid toward
Ovechkin. However, Ovechkin more-or-less
one timed a pass through the middle to Backstrom on the right wing. Backstrom inched to his left to improve his
shooting angle and take advantage of a developing screen in front of Ryan
Miller. Backstrom snapped off a shot,
and it pinged off the far post and in to give the Caps their last goal of the
evening in the 4-1 win.
Other
stuff…
-- It
figures that Ovechkin would get his 50th goal of the season on a power
play. It was, after all, his league-leading
23rd power play goal. It
would also figure that it would come on a one-timer, his signature shot. It might also figure that in scoring that
goal, he dented the puck.
-- Nicklas
Backstrom’s two goals represented his first two-goal game since scoring two
against the Philadelphia Flyers (including the game-winner) in the Caps’ 7-0
win on November 1st.
-- The
Caps started Tyson Strachan, Connor Carrick, and Julien Brouillette on
defense. Among them they have 116 games
of experience this season… with the Hershey Bears. They have a combined 53 games with the
Caps. In Game 79 of the season for the
Caps…not what one would have expected.
-- Tom
Wilson had a quiet night. No penalties,
no fights, no points, one shot on goal, one hit. But he did get 11:37 in ice time, his first
time over ten minutes in four games and his third highest total this season.
-- It is
not often that Nicklas Backstrom will record more shots on goal than Alex
Ovechkin has shot attempts, but there it is.
Backstrom had six shots on goal, Ovechkin had two shot on goal and two
attempts blocked.
--
27.6. Are we reading that right?...
27.6? Yup. The Caps were 16-for-58 in the faceoff
circle, which is 27.6 percent. They were
4-for-17 in the offensive zone (23.5
percent), 5-for-23 in the neutral zone (21.7 percent). The Blues couldn’t do better against air.
-- John
Carlson had a pair of assists, his first multi-point game since February 27th
against Florida. He also had 26:35 in
ice time. His performance came none too
soon with Mike Green out of the lineup.
--
Mikhail Grabovski had the game-winning goal and has points in two of his last
three games. However, he did not skate in the last six minutes of the contest
and had only 12 minutes and change for the night. Hopefully, it was just giving him a breather
after the Caps took a three-goal lead, letting him continue easing back into
game shape after missing about two months to injury.
-- Evgeny
Kuznetsov apparently does few things on a hockey rink without flair. In the space of a few short seconds he hooked
Kevin Shattenkirk, then tossed a stick to defenseman Karl Alzner, who snapped
his as play continued. Both, unfortunately
for Kuznetsov and the Caps, are against the rules. It looked good, though. Fortunately, Shattenkirk would go off for
slashing Troy Brouwer 39 seconds later, and 1:04 after that Grabovski would
have his goal at 4-on-4. No harm, no
foul, kid.
-- The
4-on-4 goal was Washington’s eighth of the season, tied for fifth most in the
league.
-- A
round of applause for Braden Holtby who, despite some ghastly possession and
shot numbers for his club, stopped 28 of 29 shots in a game he was not supposed
to start, but did when his colleague did (or did not, depending on when you
entered your Twitter feed) begging off this game.
-- As
for those ghastly possession numbers… 27.4 percent Corsi-for, 28.6 percent
Fenwick-for, and 38.7 percent shots-for at 5-on-5 for the evening.
In the
end…
It wasn’t
pretty. Well, it was pretty in places,
but there were long stretches in which St. Louis never seemed to have to skate
on the defensive side of the red line.
But hey, they don’t keep score on the basis of skate ruts/60 in the
defensive zone. The Caps won where it
matters, lived to fight another day, and perhaps showed that if there is little
hope left in the season, there is some pride in the way they play.