If outdoor games have become old and stale in the view of
some, the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs injected new life into
the format as they took the ice at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, MD,
on Saturday night in their Stadium Series matchup. The Caps broke on top with a three-goal first period and locked down a 5-2 win in a game that was one of the most entertaining of the outdoor games played to date.
First Period
It did not take long for the seal to be broken on this
one. Jay Beagle drew a penalty by Travis
Dermott less than three minutes into the game, and the Caps made the Leafs pay.
Nicklas Backstrom walked the puck off
the right wing wall and wristed a shot at the Toronto net. Goalie Frederik Andersen made the save, but
the rebound came out to the low slot.
Evgeny Kuznetsov was first to it, pulling it over to his forehand and
snapping it past Andersen on the stick side to make it 1-0, 3:50 into the
period.
Toronto tied it less than two minutes later when a drive
from the right point by Roman Polak hit the skate of Zach Hyman as he was
crossing in front and skittered past Holtby’s right skate to tie it at the 5:20
mark.
Then it was the captain’s turn. It started with Backstrom dumping the puck
into the Leafs’ zone from long range. Andersen
stopped the puck, but Backstrom was able to follow it up with a shot that
Andersen knocked aside. Then, Alex Ovechkin
and Tom Wilson went to work to dig it out.
Ovechkin backed out from below the goal line as Wilson dueled for the puck. Wilson out-fought Leo Komarov for it and fed
the puck out to Ovechkin, who got inside position on Mitch Marner and snapped a
shot high past Andersen’s glove to give the Caps the lead once more, just 59
seconds after the Toronto goal, at 6:19.
Washington took a two-goal lead late in the period on
another power play. With Dominic Moore off
on a delay-of-game/puck-over-glass penalty, Evgeny Kuznetsov sped down the
right side into the Toronto zone. With
Connor Brown straining to keep up behind him, Kuznetsov angled to the Maple
Leaf net, and as he was circling around it, fed the puck out to Backstrom
trailing the play. Backstrom stuffed it
in from the post to Andersen’s left, and it was 3-1 at the 16:20 mark. That would be how the teams went to the first
intermission.
The Caps led the Leafs in shots on goals, 11-7, but Toronto
had a 20-19 edge in shot attempts overall.
Second Period
Toronto inched to within a goal in the eighth minute of the
period when Marner dropped a pass for Nazem Kadri just inside the offensive
zone. Kadri pirouetted and wristed a
shot at Holtby, who thought he had the puck at the near post, but it snuck past
him at the 7:22 mark.
The Caps answered quickly again. Jay Beagle started the scoring play by
skating the puck into the right wing circle in the offensive zone and pulling
it back to John Carlson. His drive was
stopped by Andersen, but the rebound came out to Chandler Stephenson on the
left side. Stephenson threw the puck at
the crease where it squirted out to Carlson.
With Morgan Rielly and Jay Beagle tied up with Andersen, Carlson
deposited the puck in the empty half of the net to make it 4-2, 8:05 into the
period.
The Caps chased Andersen less than three minutes later. Kuznetsov collected a loose puck and circled toward
the defensive blue line. He spied Jakub
Vrana behind the defense and led him perfectly.
Vrana broke in clean on Andersen and snapped the puck through his pads
at the 10:49 mark to make it 5-2, Caps.
Curtis McElhinney relieved Andersen at that point and
prevented any further damage to the Leafs’ cause until the teams went to the
second intermission.
The Caps out-shot Toronto, 18-12 in the period, while the
Maple Leafs had a 24-21 edge in shot attempts.
Third Period
The goal scoring portion game having come to an end, the
Caps did a credible job of clamping down on the Maple Leafs to deny them any
opportunities to make it a competitive game once more. They even kept their focus when the game was interrupted by a power outage at the ten-minute mark when the teams changed ends. It made for a happy evening for Caps fans with the team skating off
with a 5-2 win.
Other stuff…
-- Nicklas Backstom had four shots on goal in the first
period (he finished with five). Coming
into this game he had only four games in which he had more shots on goal for the
entire contest. No other Capital had
more than one shot on goal in the period.
Backstrom also had three points in the first period (1-2-3). Coming into
this game he had four games in which he finished the night with three or more
points. It was his fifth game with three
or more points this season.
-- Evgeny Kuznetsov had a three-point game, too (1-2-3). It was his sixth game this season with three
or more points. His goal was his 20th,
the second time in his career he hit the 20-goal mark and passing the 19 goals
he had in each of the previous two seasons.
-- John Carlson…three-point game (1-2-3). It was his second game this season with three
or more points.
-- This was the first time the Caps had three players with
three or more points in a game since December 30th, when Backstrom
(1-2-3), Carlson (1-2-3), and Alex Ovechkin (0-3-3) did it in a 5-2 win over
the New Jersey Devils.
-- Jakub Vrana’s goal snapped a 25-game streak without a
goal.
-- The Caps were 2-for-2 on the power play, the first time they
were perfect on more than one power play chance since they went 2-for-2 in a
4-3 overtime win over the Dallas Stars last January 21st.
-- Braden Holtby stopped the last 16 shots he faced to
clinch the win and end a personal six-game losing streak (0-4-2).
-- Tom Wilson had a Wilsonian sort of game… an assist, three
shots on goal, five hits, two of them of the thunderous sort.
-- Jay Beagle was an amazing 13-for-14 on faceoffs (92.9
percent). On the other hand, he was the
only minus player for the Caps (minus-1).
-- The Caps went to 3-0-0 in outdoor games, their record
trailing only that of the New York Rangers (4-0-0). Those two teams are the only ones with more
than two wins in outdoor NHL games.
In the end…
Good win. Good
win. The Caps were quick out of the
gate, stifled the Maple Leafs, opened a lead, and then shut it down in their
own end. Getting contributions from
Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and John Carlson was welcome, and the goal
by Alex Ovechkin seemed to give the team an early spark. The best part might have been goalie Braden
Holtby gaining confidence as the game went on, displaying some of the swagger
and flair he has when he is on his game.
It is something that has been missing lately as he looked as if he was
searching for pucks more than stopping them.
This is the sort of complete win the Caps needed to start
the month and see them off for their California trip that will start in Anaheim
on Tuesday against the Ducks. It also
allowed the Caps to head off with, for the moment, a two-point lead on the
Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division. Every point is important now, and the Caps
got two the “right” way in this game.