First Period
The teams almost got out of the first period scoreless, but
with Nicklas Backstrom in the penalty box, Tyler Seguin scored the game’s first
goal. Taking a pass in the left wing
circle from Alexander Radulov, Seguin had an open lane in front of him. He had time to step up and pick a hole, which
he found, snapping a shot over goalie Braden Holtby’s left pad and under his
catching glove on the far side to make it 1-0, 16:04 into the game. That would be all the scoring in the opening
20 minutes.
Second Period
The Caps had to kill off one power play that carried over
into the second period, and then they had to kill another less than a minute
after the first one expired. They
managed to keep Dallas from increasing their lead, and the penalty kills seemed
to give the Caps a lift. And sure
enough, just after the second power play expired, Lars Eller cut across the
crease to pick up a rebound, dropping off the puck for T.J. Oshie camped in
front. Oshie snapped the puck past
goalie Kari Lehtonen’s glove on the short side, and it was tied, 1-1, 4:07 into
the period.
And barely a minute after the Oshie tally, the Caps took
their first lead of the contest. A loose
puck slid up the wall to Matt Niskanen at the right point. Niskanen wasted no time sending a shot toward
the Dallas net. On the way through, the
puck was deflected up by Dallas’ Greg Pateryn, and while Brett Connolly waved a
high stick at the tumbling puck as it sailed by, he appeared to miss it. So did Lehtonen, who could not adjust to the
puck’s new trajectory, and Niskanen had a goal at the 5:32 mark.
The goals just kept coming after that. Radulov got the Stars even again when he
redirected a John Klingberg shot down and past Holtby’s glove 11:48 into the
period. Less than two minutes later,
though, the Caps regained the lead on a power play. T.J. Oshie won a faceoff to the left of
Lehtonen. The puck came back to John
Carlson, who relayed it to Alex Ovechkin at the top of the left wing
circle. One one-timer later, and it was
3-2, 13:41 into the period.
Dallas tied the game again late in the period when Jamie
Benn took advantage of a Lars Eller turnover in the neutral zone, scooped up
the loose puck, muscled his way past Dmitry Orlov, and snapped a point-blank
shot past Holtby’s blocker at the 18:15 mark to close the second period
scoring.
Third Period
The frantic back-and-forth of the second period gave way to
a bit slower pace in the third, but John Carlson broke through for the Caps
late in the frame with the teams skating 4-on-4. Lars Eller served up a pass on a plate that
Carlson blasted past Lehtonen from the right wing circle at the 15:01 mark to
make it 4-3. It would be the difference
as the Caps skated off with their fifth win in six games overall and their
fifth straight win on home ice.
Other stuff…
-- When Tyler Seguin scored a power play goal in the first
period it made five power play goals on 11 shots over three games against
goalie Braden Holtby.
-- The teams combined for only 17 shot attempts in the first
period (Dallas led in attempts, 9-8; Washington had the shots on goal
advantage, 5-4).
-- The second period was a different story. Both teams surpassed the combined shot
attempt total in the first period, Dallas with 27 attempts and the Caps with
21. Washington held a 16-13 edge in
shots on goal.
-- The Caps broke a six-game home losing streak against the Stars,
last having beaten them in Washington, 4-3, on November 30, 2006. Until tonight, that was the last win in
regulation they had anywhere against Dallas (they had two wins in Dallas in extra
time in that span).
-- John Carlson had a goal and an assist, the goal being his
15th, inching him to within one of the league lead among defensemen
(Calgary’s Dougie Hamilton has 16). His
two points allowed him to keep pace with John Klingberg atop the league points
standings among defensemen (61 apiece), Klingberg recording two assists for
Dallas.
-- Alex Ovechkin’s goal was his 44th of the
season and 602nd career goal, passing Jari Kurri for 19th
on the all-time list. He added two
assists for his tenth game this season with three of more points, tied with
Connor McDavid for third-most in the league.
He also now has 81 points the ninth time in his career he topped the
80-point mark.
-- T.J. Oshie’s goal was his 16th of the season,
but more important for the Caps at the moment, it was his fourth in four games
after suffering a 19-game streak without one.
-- Tom Wilson recorded six shots on goal, tying his season
high (January 9th versus Vancouver).
-- Holtby recovered nicely from the power play goal allowed
in the first period. The other two goals
he allowed was a deflection and a breakaway off a turnover. It won’t show up in his save percentage
(24-for-27/.889), but he was solid.
-- Jay Beagle didn’t have a shot on goal, but he did have 13
faceoff wins on 17 draws taken (76.5 percent).
In his last six games, he is 55-for-75 (73.3 percent).
In the end…
It was not perfect, but for the result. And frankly, against this team, which seems
to have really had the Caps’ number over the last decade, that was more than
enough. The Caps concentrated their
production (only five players had points, four of them with multi-point
nights), but the energy was spread around well, evidenced by Wilson’s high shot
total, John Carlson having six shot attempts, Lars Eller with four, and so
on. It was the right way to kick off a
generous portion of the schedule, especially since the Caps now go on the
road. They might be facing weaker teams
in Detroit, Montreal, and the New York Rangers, but winning on the road is
never easy. With that ahead of the Caps,
this win against a frustrating opponent made for a satisfying evening.