For the Caps, the game was reminiscent of so many games
played early in the season when they would slowly and methodically wear teams
down, then dominate the third period to put games away. If the most reliable predictor of a Caps win
this season was first goal scored, things looked good for the hone team in the
first period. Late in the period the
Caps showed fans why it is always a good thing to get pucks to the net. At the top of the offensive zone, Nate
Schmidt double-clutched as if he was going to take a slap shot, pulling Nick
Foligno to the middle of the ice in defense and opening a passing lane to John
Carlson for a one-timer from the left point.
Carlson’s drive made it all the way to goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who
kicked the shot out to his left.
Unfortunately for him, that happened to be where Justin Williams was
camped out. Williams had time to draw
the puck over to his forehand and whip it into the net before Ryan Murray could
dive across in an attempt to poke the puck away. With just 3:30 left in the period, it was
1-0, Caps.
That would have been a good way to go into the first
intermission, but before Wes Johnson could finish announcing the goal to the crowd,
Columbus struck back on a turnover by Dmitry Orlov. After Brooks Orpik sent the puck around the
end wall to the Olympia corner, Orlov collected it and had a decision to make. He could have turned, pulled the puck to his
forehand, and then sent it up the wall and out of the zone. He could have sent the puck back around the
boards to Orpik. Or, he could have tried
to backhand the puck up the middle and out of danger. He chose the last of these, and as
the knight said in the movie…
The puck was batted down by Rene Bourque, giving Cam
Atkinson a chance to gain control and snap a shot past goalie Braden Holtby’s
glove to tie the game just 1:36 after the Williams goal.
That would be all the scoring until the third period. And as Caps fans have come to know this
season, the Caps own the third period.
They certainly did on this night, taking the lead for good just 3:46
into the frame. Daniel Winnik led a
three-man rush against the Columbus defense, sliding the puck over to Tom
Wilson on the right side as he gained the offensive zone. The puck was poked away from Wilson by Dean
Kukan, allowing Winnik to recover the puck and send it to the Columbus net on
which Mike Richards was closing.
Richards did not get a stick on the shot coming through, but it might
have forced Bobrovsky into leaving another juicy rebound, this one cleaned up
by Wilson cutting across the slot and backhanded into the open net.
The Caps got insurance late in the period on a power
play. Nicklas Backstrom started the play
by working the puck off the right wing wall and deftly pulling it around Cam
Atkinson to find Matt Niskanen at the top of the offensive zone. Niskanen has time and space to get a shot off
and as the puck sailed through, T.J. Oshie got enough of his stick on it to
redirect it past Bobrovsky’s left pad to make it 3-1 at the 14:26 mark.
The Caps closed the scoring with 2:25 left when Backstrom
took a Niskanen pass in the neutral zone, took one step up to gain the red
line, then snapped a shot that banked off the crossbar and in for the final 4-1
margin.
Other stuff…
-- The Caps, in addition to winning their second Presidents
Trophy in franchise history, hit the 54-win mark for the second time in
franchise history, tying the club record for wins.
-- Braden Holtby became the fifth NHL goalie to win 46 or
more games in a single regular season.
More important, he looks more and more like the goalie who threatened to
lap the field on his way to the Vezina Trophy.
With 21 saves on 22 shots in this game, Holtby is 5-1-1, 1.88, .927,
with one shutout in his last seven appearances.
-- Did you have Matt Niskanen leading the team in shots on
goal? OK, did you have Jason
Chimera? If you had either one, you were
a winner. Both had five shots on
goal. Niskanen led the club with nine
shot attempts.
-- Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and an assist, his 17th
multi-point game of the season, tied for 11th most in the league.
-- This was the Caps’ 29th win at home this
season, tying this club for second all-time in home wins in franchise history (2008-2009). Their next home win will tie the 1985-1986
and 2009-2010 teams for the top spot in franchise history with 30 wins.
-- The penalty killers had a fine night. They allowed the Blue Jackets no goals and
just one shot in 4:51 of shorthanded ice time.
They are 16-for-17 over their last five games (94.1 percent).
-- Matt Niskanen had a pair of assists for his first
multi-point game since January 19th, also against the Blue Jackets.
-- Nicklas Backstrom’s goal was his 20th of the
season, making him the fifth Capital to reach that mark this season. The five 20-goal scorers are the most for the
Caps in one season since they had seven in the 2009-2010 season.
-- The big lead in the standings allowed the Caps to spread
out the ice time. No forward logged as
many as 18 minutes (T.J. Oshie had 17:56).
Three defensemen topped 20 minutes (Matt Niskanen, Karl Alzner, and John
Carlson), and that might have been just two had Barry Trotz not held Dmitry
Orlov to just three second period shifts totaling less than three minutes after
his first-period gaffe that led to the Columbus goal.
-- The shot attempts at 5-on-5 by period illustrated how the
Caps wore the Blue Jackets down. The
teams split 36 shot attempts down the middle in the first period, 18
apiece. In the second period it was the
Caps with a slight edge, 12-11. In the
third period, though, the Caps dominated by a 20-11 margin (numbers from
war-on-ice.com).
In the end…
This game was not really as close as the final score
indicated. The Caps could have ended the
issue early but for some fine stops by Sergei Bobrovsky, particularly on Jay
Beagle. And, but for a mistake in
judgment by Dmitry Orlov on where to put the puck to get it out of harm’s way,
it might have been Braden Holtby’s second shutout in a row. As it was, it was a solid, businesslike
effort, one that looked like the Caps were focused on tending to business with
a minimum of fancy plays. Two goals off
rebounds and another on a deflection are the sorts of greasy goals they will
need when the games matter more. It was
a welcome look.
