The Washington Capitals took the ice for the last time
before their bye/All-Star Game break for eight days, facing the New York
Islanders at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, on Saturday
afternoon. The Caps scored first, fell
behind, fell behind further, pulled their goalie, and looked to be playing out
the string before heading on their eight-day bye/All-Star Game break. But then, things happened. In the end, it would be one of the most
bizarre wins in a season full of them, the Caps coming from three goals down to
start the third period to win, 6-4.
First Period
The teams played cautiously to open things, but it would be
the Caps who were beneficiaries of the game’s first power play, the Islanders’ Jordan
Eberle sent off for tripping Michal Kempny at the 6:05 mark. The referees quickly evened things up, giving
hints that this would be more of a “touch” hockey game, sending Alex Ovechkin
off for hooking at 6:40.
Neither team could score on their respective power plays or
the 4-on-4 that overlapped, but the Caps did open the scoring. Alex Ovechkin put the Caps on top, taking a
superb long lead pass from Nicklas Backstrom, skating into the New York zone on
a semi-break, and wristing the puck past goalie Semyon Varlamov’s blocker at
the 10:22 mark. It was Ovechkin’s 690th career
goal, tying Mario Lemieux for tenth in NHL history.
The Islanders appeared to score less than three minutes
later on a Brock Nelson goal, but the Caps challenged the play for being
offside. The goal call was confirmed,
and the Caps were charged with a delay-of-game penalty for losing the
challenge. The Caps then went two men
short when Carl Hagelin was called for interference at the 6:26 mark.
The Caps killed both penalties, but then they promptly gave
up the go-ahead goal on a fluky redirect off the skate of Radko Gudas, Casey
Cizikas getting credit for the goal 15:49 into the period. That closed the scoring for the first period.
-- The teams finished the period tied in shots on goal with
11 apiece, and in shot attempts with 17 apiece.
-- The teams also split 22 faceoffs with 11 wins apiece.
-- T.J. Oshie led the team with three shots on goal and four
shot attempts.
Second Period
The Caps started the period slowly, lucky to have kept the
game a one-goal deficit. They caught a
break when Tom Wilson hit Casey Cizikas playing the puck, the Islanders’ Matt
Martin took exception, and then Radko Gudas came to Wilson’s defense. Gudas was sent off for roughing, but Martin
was docked a roughing and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to put the Caps on
a power play.
Washington did not convert its man advantage chance, and they
would take the next turn on the penalty kill, Brendan Leipsic going off for
roughing at 8:27 of the period. The
Islanders did what the Caps could not, converting the power play on a Jordan
Eberle goal 9:31 into the period to give the home team a 3-1 lead.
Washington was awarded their third power play of the game at
the 11:11 mark when Leo Komarov was hit with a boarding penalty. The Caps did not score and barely threatened,
the Islanders escaping with their two-goal lead intact. The Caps got another chance to go a man up
when Nick Leddy was banished for slashing at the 14:37 mark. The Caps once more failed to take advantage,
and it burned them when the Islanders converted an odd-man rush at the other
end after the penalty expired, Devon Toews finishing the play to make it 4-1,
Islanders, 17:25 into the period. That
would, mercifully, end the scoring for the second period.
-- The Islanders had an 11-8 edge in shots on goal for the
period, but the Caps had a 22-13 advantage in shot attempts.
-- John Carlson had 17:17 in ice time through two periods,
almost three minutes more than the next Capital (Dmitry Orlov: 14:36).
-- Carlson led the team in shot on goal (five) and was tied
in shot attempts (six, with Ovechkin) through 40 minutes.
Third Period
The Caps opened the period with Ilya Samsonov replacing
Braden Holtby in goal. Whether that was
motivation or not, it was the Caps who scored first, Richard Panik feeding the
puck to the top of the crease from the goal line to Carl Hagelin, who held off
Ross Johnston long enough to slide the puck past Varlamov to make it 4-1, 2:33
into the period to make it a 4-2 game.
Ovechkin scored his second of the game when he undressed
Islander defenseman Scott Mayfield, curling the puck around him and then circling
to the net. As he was tumbling to the
ice he managed to get what looked to be a centering pass to Garnet Hathaway,
but the puck was redirected into the net by Islander Ryan Pulock, and it was
4-3, 5:18 into the period.
The Caps came all the way back when Dmitry Orlov unloaded a bomb
from the left point that was redirected by Tom Wilson and slithered through
Varlamov at the 14:32 mark to make it 4-4.
And then, just 2:58 later, Jakub Vrana darted in from the left point and
snapped a shot past Varlamov’s blocker to put the Caps on top for the first
time since the 14th minute of the first period, 5-4.
The Islanders pulled Varlamov late, to no avail. Ovechkin completed the hat trick, taking a
pass from T.J. Oshie, pulling it around an Islander defender, and firing it
from the neutral zone into the empty net to make it 6-4 at the 19:04 mark. That would be more than enough for the Caps
to complete the unthinkable, coming back with five unanswered goals after
trailing, 4-1, after two period to go into the break with a 6-4 win.
Other stuff…
-- Ovechkin’s second goal of the contest made it
three-straight multi-goal games, the first time in his career he accomplished
that feat.
-- Ovechkin’s three goals allowed him to pass Mario Lenieux
for tenth place on the all-time NHL goal scoring list and tied him with Steve
Yzerman for ninth place. Ovechkin also
tied Yzerman for second place in career goals scored for one franchise (692),
trailing only Gordie Howe (786 for Detroit).
-- The hat trick was Ovechkin’s 26th career hat
trick, tying him with Maurice Richard for eighth-most in NHL history. He trails Marcel Dionne and Bobby Hull, tied
with 28 hat tricks for sixth place, by two.
-- Tom Wilson’s goal broke a seven-game streak without a
goal.
-- Ilya Samsonov stopped all seven shots he faced in the
third period to record the win in relief of Braden Holtby. He is now 10-0-0, 1.60, .941 (one
no-decision) in his last 11 appearances.
-- John Carlson had a pair of assists to record his 19th
multi-point game this season, tied with Auston Matthews for sixth-most in the
league and most among defensemen. The
two points gave Carlson 102 career multi-point games, tied with Scott Stevens
for most by a defenseman in Caps history.
-- Jakub Vrana scored the game-winning goal, extending his
points streak to a career-high eight games (6-2-8).
-- The Caps finished with a 30-29 edge in shots on goal and
a 63-40 advantage in shot attempts.
-- Dmitry Orlov had a pair of assists to record his first
multi-point game on the road this season and first multi-point game not against
Tampa Bay, who he victimized twice at Capital One Arena.
-- Nick Jensen had an assist, breaking a 40-game streak
without a point.
In the end…
Stop doing this, Caps!
Just pound teams and put them out of THEIR misery instead of playing
like wet burlap for two periods and then turning it on to put us out of OUR
misery. This game was “The Full Capitals
Experience.” Score first, suck for the
next 35 minutes, look like mites on their own power play, fall hopelessly behind,
and then just go, “ah, f*ck it…let’s just go win.” They can do this against some teams in the
regular season, but it is not a sustainable recipe for success when the weather
turns warmer.
But still…this was a helluva ride, wasn’t it?