Long before the thrilling finish, the Hurricanes opened the
scoring with Jordan Staal finishing a tic-tac-toe passing play on a power play. It was Sebastian Aho to Justin Williams at the goal line and then out into the slot to
Staal for a one-timer while falling to the seat of his pants to make it 1-0
just 3:20 into the game.
Lars Eller tied it for the Caps four minutes later on a
power play. It was an
amazing sequence, a pile of bodies fighting for control of the puck at the top
of the Carolina crease for more than ten seconds before Eller found a hole and
worked the puck through goalie Cam Ward’s pads at the 7:25 mark.
The teams exchanged goals in the second period, Alex
Ovechkin doing the honors for the Caps, one-timing a feed from John Carlson
past Ward’s glove on the far side as a Caps power play was expiring just 28
seconds into the period.
Aho tied the game for Carolina mid-way through the period on
another Hurricane power play, one-timing a feed from Justin Faulk through a
maze of bodies past goalie Philipp Grubauer 8:50 into the period.
Jeff Skinner gave Carolina their second lead of the game
less than two minutes into the third period. Taking a pass from Lee Stempniak
at his own blue line, Skinner weaved his way down ice, gained the offensive
zone, curled between defensemen John Carlson and Brooks Orpik, and whistled a shot
off the post on the near side to Grubauer’s right and in at the 1:49 mark to
make it 3-2.
Washington tied the game with less than five minutes
left. T.J. Oshie hounded Haydn Fleury
into a giveaway from below his own goal line, Fleury trying to send the puck up
the middle of the ice. The errant pass
made it only as far as Connolly’s stick, and happily accepted the gift,
snapping a shot past Ward at the 16:52 mark.
That set up the wild finish.
With the clock winding down, Ovechkin barreled down the left side, but
he lost the puck at the top of the left wing circle. Nicklas Backstrom beat Brook McGinn to the
loose puck, and with the clock approaching 0:00, he flung it toward Jay Beagle
closing on the net. Beagle took one
swipe at it, then another. It was the
second – one he did not catch fully – that snuck past the pad of Ward with just
1.3 seconds left to give the Caps the 4-3 win as they head into their bye week
on the schedule.
Other stuff…
-- John Carlson’s assist on Alex Ovechkin’s goal was Carlson’s
300th point in the NHL. He is
the 24th player in Capitals history to reach that mark.
-- Jay Beagle’s game-winning goal extended a remarkable
career streak. The Caps are 39-1-5 in
games that Beagle recorded a goal in his career.
-- Lars Eller extended his goal-scoring streak to four
games. It was his tenth goal against the
Hurricanes in his career. He has more
against Carolina than against any other team he has faced in the NHL.
-- The two power play goals allowed was the first time the
Caps allowed multiple power play goals in a game since the Boston Bruins scored
a pair in five chances in 5-3 Caps win in Boston on December 14th.
-- Alex Ovechkin added two assists to his goal, giving him
his seventh game with three or more points this season. That ties hime with Nathan MacKinnon and
Blake Wheeler for second-most in the league, one behind John Tavares. It extended his all-time lead in such games
in Caps history, his 97 such games topping the list.
-- The 39 shots allowed tied the second-most allowed by the Caps
in a regulation game this season. They
allowed 40 to the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-2 win on October 28th.
-- Even with the 39 shots allowed, the Caps had the edge in
shot attempts overall, 62-59.
-- Eight different Caps recorded points, Ovechkin with the
only multi-point game.
-- Chandler Stephenson and Christian Djoos did not record a
shot attempt. That means they were
without an attempt in both games of the back-to-back with Carolina.
-- With 36 saves in 39 shots faced in this game, Philipp
Grubauer is 4-0-2, 1.33, .957, with one shutout in his last seven appearances.
In the end…
It is nice to go into the bye with a win. It was the Caps' tenth road win of the
season. Better still, the Caps go into
the break six points clear of the Columbus Blue Jackets at the top of the
Metropolitan Division with a game in hand.
New Jersey lurks, seven points back with four games in hand on the Caps,
but they have lost five in a row (0-3-2), and the surprise portion of their
season might be coming to an end. Every
other team in the division is now at least ten points behind the Caps, and no
team in the Metro has more wins in their last ten games than Washington
(6-2-2).
It is a good place to be.
Now, if only Jay Beagle could score more goals after the break.
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