The game-winner came on a slippery individual effort by defenseman
Dmitry Orlov. Taking a cross-ice pass
from Andre Burakovsky as he was entering the offensive zone, Orlov was challenged by Nino
Niederreiter. Orlov slid the puck through
his own legs to his backhand, worked his way around Niederreiter, and flicked a
shot that hit the stick of Jared Spurgeon and squeaked between goalie Darcy
Kuemper’s left pad and the post for what would be the game-winning goal.
Until that moment, it looked like any number of recent
nights for the Caps. They allowed the
game’s first goal on a power play in the last minute of the first period when Mikko Koivu
wristed a shot from the top of the right wing circle that looked as if it got
just a bit of defenseman Karl Alzner’s leg as it was going through, altering
its path just enough to squirt between goalie Braden Holtby’s pads at the 19:18
mark.
The Caps tied the game in the first minute of the second
period with the help of some luck. From
below the goal line to the right of Kuemper, Nicklas Backstrom sent a pass into
the middle looking for Alex Ovechkin skating through the low slot. The pass came all the way through, though,
and it was Brooks Orpik who flagged it down at the top of the right wing
circle. Orpik tokk a step up and snapped
a shot that was going wide to Kuemper’s left.
However, the puck struck the shaft of the stick of Marco Scandella and was
redirected behind Kuemper to make it 1-1 just 49 seconds into the period.
The tie did not last five minutes. Niederreiter put the Wild back in front when
the Caps got caught too deep in the Wild zone.
With all three Caps forwards below the Minnesota goal line, Spurgeon
poked the puck up the boards to Jason Pominville. When Nate Schmidt pinched in down the boards,
Pominville slid the puck into the middle where Ryan Suter was starting up
ice. Suter moved the puck out to
Niederreiter at the red line. With
Taylor Chorney the last man back and in pursuit of him, Niederretier protected
the puck with his body, faked going across the slot, then shot back across his
body over Holtby’s glove to make it 2-1 at the 5:05 mark.
Trailing going into the third period, the Caps got their
only power play of the game when Kuemper was whistled for delay of game,
dislodging the net. The Caps
made good on the opportunity using a tried and true formula. Nicklas Backstrom patiently looked over the
situation from the right wing wall and slid the puck out to Matt Niskanen at
the top of the zone. Niskanen, playing
on the top power play unit because John Carlson was out with an injury, laid
the puck off to Ovechkin in the left wing circle. His one-timer found its way between Kuepmer’s
body and his blocker, and the Caps were tied, 2-2, 4:35 into the period.
All that remained was for Orlov to display his puck-handling
and shooting skills for the game-winner, and the Caps had their 45th
win of the season, 3-2.
Other stuff…
-- If you’re betting on scores with the Caps, take “3-2.” This was the 11th time this season
that the Caps won a game by that margin, tops in the league for that particular
score.
-- The 45th win for the Caps in Game 60 ties last
year’s win total. The 45 wins ties this
club with last year’s team and the 1991-1992 club for the seventh-highest win
total in franchise history.
-- Ovechkin’s goal gave him 40 on the season. He is one of 10 players in NHL history to
record eight or more 40-goal seasons and one of seven players to record that
many in his first 11 seasons. Only Wayne
Gretzky (11 times), Mike Bossy (9), and Mario Lemieux (9) did it more times in
their first 11 seasons.
-- Ovechkin extended his points streak to five games
(5-4-9), four of those games being multi-point games. He has not gone consecutive games without a
goal in more than a month (January 14 and 16 against Vancouver and Buffalo,
respectively). Since December 18th,
when he recorded two goals against Tampa Bay, Ovechkin has 26 goals in 29 games.
-- This was the seventh straight game in which the Caps
allowed the game’s first goal. They won
for the 17th time this season in 31 decisions when giving up that
first goal. Last season they won just
eight times in 39 decisions when allowing the first goal.
-- Nicklas Backstrom ended a three-game streak without a
point with a pair of assists. It was his
first multi-point game since he had three assists in the 4-3 win over Minnesota
on February 11th and his 15th multi-point game of the season,
tied for eighth-most in the league.
-- Brooks Orpik’s goal set a career best for goals in a
season (3). He also has nine points in
20 games this season, second among Caps defensemen in points per game (0.45) to
John Carlson (0.66). He also had eight
hits and five blocked shots. He had a
rich and full (and sore) evening.
-- Odd Backstrom fact.
He did not record a shot attempt in this game. It was the 12th time this season
that he did not record a shot on goal, and in those games he has a total of 11
assists. There are many ways to
contribute.
-- Brooks Laich played just one shift in the third
period. His total ice time of 6:25 was
his lowest of the season.
-- Minnesota won the shot attempt contest at 5-on-5, 57-51,
but the second period was telling. After
the Wild dominated the first period in shot attempts at evens, 19-8, the Caps
and Wild split 46 attempts down the middle in the second. The volume of attempts in the middle period,
coupled with the Wild playing the previous night in Philadelphia, might have
contributed to their wearing down in the third when the Caps scored twice and
had a 20-15 edge in 5-on-5 attempts (numbers from war-on-ice.com).
In the end…
Five wins in six games, ten wins in 12, both of the losses
of the one-goal variety. Best record in
the league by a dozen points, top scoring offense, top power play, top goal
differential. First, top, best. Then why do these recent wins look so…bleh? Falling behind early in games, taking early
penalties (eight first period penalties over their last three games, including
three tonight), it has been a struggle for the Caps to get going in games
lately. This game was was no
exception. It is one thing to do it and
come back against a team outside of the playoff mix that played the previous
night. It will be another on Sunday when
the Caps head to Chicago for a national-telecast game against the Blackhawks, a
team that when they jump on sluggish teams early, generally stay on top of
them.
