The scoring was a rare occurrence in a game where offense
was often a rumor. Jay Beagle opened the
scoring for the Capitals in the first period on a rather basic play. A shot from the left point by Chris Summers
went high and wide of the Caps net and rimmed around the boards out of the
offensive zone. Jason Chimera chased the
puck down in the neutral zone and skated into the Coyotes end down the left
wing. Joel Ward dashed to the net,
occupying two Coyote defenders, leaving the middle wide open for the late
arriving Jay Beagle. Chimera centered
the puck to Beagle in the slot, and Beagle fired it home to give Washington a
1-0 lead.
That lead held up into the early moments of the second
period when Oliver Ekman-Larsson tied the game when Sam Gagner skated to the
bottom of the right wing circle and threw a no-look backhand pass cross ice to
Ekman-Larsson at the top of the left wing circle. With nothing but open net to shoot at, Ekman-Larsson found the back of the net to make it 1-1.
And that was it for scoring in regulation time. The last 20-second sequence was essentially
an Eric Fehr production. He started the
play by winning a faceoff in the neutral zone from Antoine Vermette. Then he skated the puck into the Arizona zone
where his attempted snap shot from the top of the left wing circle was blocked
into the corner by Mike Stone. Fehr
chased the puck down and move it along to Troy Brouwer in the opposite
corner. The Caps worked it around the top
of the zone from Brouwer to John Carlson to Brooks Orpik at the top of the left
wing circle. Orpik fired a low shot that
goalie Mike Smith stopped with his left pad.
The rebound was left lying at the top of the crease, though, and Fehr
was there to pound it past Smith to give the Caps a 2-1 win and break their
two-game losing streak.
Other stuff…
-- The Caps had three power plays, the most power plays they
have had on the road since they had three chances in a 3-1 win in Calgary on
October 25th. It was an
avalanche of chances given that they had one in their previous two road games
combined. They might have been a bit out
of practice, though, failing to convert on any of their six power play shots
despite getting them from the guys who need to get them. Alex Ovechkin had all three of his shots on goal
for the game on a first period power play.
Nicklas Backstrom, Troy Brouwer, and Mike Green had the other shots on
goal.
-- This was the Caps’ first win in Arizona since Ovechkin
scored “The Goal” in January 2006.
-- Jason Chimera’s assist on Jay Beagle’s goal broke a
seven-game streak without a point. He is
still working on a 13-game run without a goal.
-- Braden Holtby made his first career appearance against
the Coyotes, and he made it count. He
stopped 23 of 24 shots to make it four straight games with a save percentage
better than .920, three of them .950 or better.
In those four games he stopped 112 of 118 shots (.949).
-- Maybe the hit meter was stuck on “ON.” The Caps were credited with 41 hits, the only
players not recording one being Evgeny Kuznetsov and Chris Brown. Tom Wilson led the team with six.
-- Speaking of Brown, his recording no hits was part of a
pristine score card. In 6:36 of ice time
he recorded no events. Lucas Lessio
might have done the same for the Coyotes in his 9:37 of ice time, but he
finished with a minus-1, as he was on ice for the Jay Beagle goal.
-- The Caps killed off four power plays, 7:29 of which was
in the second period when the teams had the long change. That makes 13-for-13 over their last four
games. Brooks Orpik skated 4:14 of that
shorthanded time and led the Caps in total ice time for the evening (23:11).
-- That last shift for Fehr – 27 seconds worth – was what
pushed him over the ten-minute mark in ice time, thus avoiding the second time
in his last three games he would have not reached that mark.
-- For the second game in a row, Marcus Johansson did not
record a shot on goal, the first time this season he has gone consecutive game
without being credited for a shot on goal.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov continues to be fed ice time with a
thimble. In this game he skated just
7:32 and took only two shifts in the third period, not seeing the ice in the
last 9:15 of regulation time and the entire overtime.
In the end…
As Braden Holtby said after the game, “we really needed that.” This game was the epitome of the “grind it out” game. Neither team had many opportunities on
offense; the Caps had 40 shot attempts in 63:16, while the Coyotes had 50. Both goaltenders played well, but Holtby was
just a sliver better than Smith. There
was hitting (70 hits credited, 41 by the Caps), but there were not many
turnovers (14 credited between the teams).
It was the kind of game that one might not like watching very often, but
it is one that fans wish the Caps would win more often. After two lackluster games over the past
weekend, this game lacked a certain luster to it as well. It did shine in the end, though.
