May 25, 2013

FIRST TAKE, GAME 4: Caps with clunker on the road; series even coming back to DC

May 8, 2013 by

The Washington Capitals were out shot, out hit, out played by the New York Rangers and only lost by one. Regardless, they lost, by a 4-3 count. This series is tied at 2 heading back to D.C.

– The Caps had two opportunities with the extra-man in the first period and the troubles they had at the end of Game 3 carried over. With the Rangers all but daring Ribeiro and Backstrom to shoot the puck, overplaying Ovechkin and Green, there was precious little puck movement and few quality chances. They got two shots on goal on the two power plays combined.

– Braden Holtby loves to play the puck, and this time he paid for it. It wasn’t so much coming out of his goal to play the puck — that probably wasn’t the worst thing he could do there. But instead of safely playing up the left wing wall, where John Erskine was waiting without a Ranger to defend, Holtby chose for the home run pass across the crease to the right wing side. Inexcusable.

– The coincidental minors at the end of the period was, simply, a joke. Erat earned the hooking call when Stepan got a step on the winger. But the “charging” call Ovechkin received was bunk. At full speed, the play looked dangerous and all, but the fact of the matter is Ovechkin clipped Stepan when he was off-balance, leading to the collision. Ovechkin didn’t target the head, there was in fact no contact with the head, and there was no reason for the second penalty other than the spectacular looking collision.

– At the time of the Rangers second goal in the second period, they were outshooting the Caps 21-8. Yup.

– Great effort by both Jason Chimera, to win the puck along the boards and pay the price on the hit by Eminger, and Ward with the skill move around the fallen defense, to get the puck to Perreault on the far post for the Caps first goal.

– Beauty backhand by Brouwer on the tying goal, but credit to Ribeiro — without his stick — and Mike Green at the point for keeping the offensive zone. The goal was a culmination of all four lines consecutively keeping possession in the Rangers end. It was the first succession of puck possession for the Caps all game and it resulted in the tying goal.

– On the power play caused by a needless cross-check by Chimera at the end of the second period, Holtby didn’t respect Dan Girardi from the point, half-playing the long shot and he paid for it. Holtby made some incredible saves in this one, but just as many poor ones.

– The Caps top line was caught on the ice on an icing play, could not get the puck out of their own end on the ensuing face-off and the result was the Rangers fourth goal.

– Despite a valiant final 12 minutes when the Caps owned play, they just couldn’t find the equalizer after the two early third period goals. The better team on the ice Wednesday night won.

It was a clunker on the road. Let it go. Step back off the ledge. Game 5 is back at Verizon Center Friday night. Doesn’t get much bigger than that.

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Washington Capitals Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 3: Capitals can’t grab 3-0 series lead

May 6, 2013 by

The Capitals had a golden opportunity to take a 3-0 stranglehold on their first-round series against the Rangers, but a slew of early penalties and a lack of success on their own power play late cost them Game 3 in a 4-3 loss at Madison Square Garden Monday night.

Although the Caps dominated 5-on-5 play for a bulk of the contest, the Rangers – sensing an urgent need to take the contest to have any chance in the series – scored twice in the third to grab the win. Derek Stephan tipped in a Rick Nash shot with just 6:25 left in regulation for the eventual game-winner.

The Caps had a chance late with an extra-man advantage for the game’s final 1:54, but Washington was a bit too passive even with a 6-on-4 and never really got a good chance for the equalizer on Henrik Lundqvist. Instead of shooting, they held the puck, and as a result, couldn’t force overtime.

Washington let a golden chance for a quick series win to vanish as a result, as the Capitals now will have to try and settle for a series split Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, with at least one more game in Washington now on tap for Friday night at Verizon Center.

The night started off well for Washington, as the Caps broke out in front just 4:06 into the game, as Nicklas Backstrom tipped a John Carlson shot past Lundqvist to give the Caps their first first-period lead of the series.

However, after Washington couldn’t convert on a power play shortly after, Joel Ward took a high-sticking minor in the defensive zone – in a flashback to last year’s Game 5 – and the Rangers scored as the minor expired to even the game as Brian Boyle to even the game.

The goal was the Rangers’ first since the first period of Game 1, breaking Braden Holtby’s shutout streak at 124:06, and also was the first goal directly off a Rangers stick in the series.

New York went up just 83 seconds into the second, scoring 8 seconds into a tripping penalty on Holbty as Darick Brassard rifled one past the Capitals netminder. Washington’s penalty-killers were put to the test over the first half of the period, giving up two more minor penalties, but were able to stay within one.

Once the penalty parade subsided, the Capitals were strong at even-strength over the remainder of the middle period, generating one power play and eventually a Mike Green equalizer, as he shot a blast past Lundqvist.

The Rangers, sensing the importance of winning the third period, came out fast in the third, and Aaron Asham caught the Capitals’ defense out of position and beat Holtby just 2:53 into the frame and gave the hosts the lead back.

Washington responded 4:22 later, as Jack Hillen’s shot from the point was tipped by Jay Beagle past Lundqvist, bringing the Capitals even and putting pressure on the Rangers.

New York pressed again after the equalizer, and were able to retake the lead with 6:25 left in regulation, as Derek Stepan tipped in a Rick Nash shot for a 4-3 lead for the hosts.

The Capitals got a late chance with 1:54 left in regulation as Brad Richards caught Alex Ovechkin under his visor for Washington’s third power-place chance of the evening. But Washington played a bit to casually with the power play and failed to convert with a chance to force overtime.

Washington has never held a 3-0 series lead in a best-of-seven series, and now are 0-8 in that situation, as the Capitals will look to earn the split Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

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Washington Capitals Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 2: ‘Casual Mike’ Green’s OT goal, Holtby’s shutout put Capitals up 2-0 in series

May 4, 2013 by

Going into this series with the New York Rangers, the Washington Capitals knew there would be tight games against John Tortorella’s stingy shot-blocking team. Getting quality shots through defensemen and past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist would be key to the Capitals success.

Saturday afternoon,  the Capitals showed they were up to the challenge. After no score during three periods of play, all it took was a cool-headed Mike Green shot on the power play to win it, 1-0, for the Capitals, putting them 2-0 in the best-of-seven series over the Rangers. The goal was assisted by Mike Ribiero and Alex Ovechkin.

Green made sure to give credit to Ribiero for the pass. “He does such a great job drawing guys to him and obviously they are on Ovi, so I just happened to be open and my goal to get it by the first guy and try to hit the net,” he said.  It was his eighth career playoff goal, and his eighteenth career game-winning goal and the first overtime game-winning goal of his career.

“We talk about this a lot,” said coach Adam Oates on Green’s ability to score in high-pressure situations. “It’s a reason why I don’t want Mike to try too hard to be a scorer during the game because we need him to have the poise back there at a key moment when it’s a big power play, place is going crazy, there’s electricity. You need guys out there who are calm. That’s one of his gifts.”

Defenseman Karl Alzner agreed. “He’s a big-time player, he handles the pressure well. He’s calm all the time with the puck in regulation, so when it gets to overtime and guys start to get the shakes a little bit, he’s still calm Mike Green,” he said.

“He’s able to find those holes, it really is amazing, I wish I could do it like him. We call him Casual Mike every now and then,” Alzner quipped.

Special teams have arguably been the deciding factor thus far in this series. The Capitals’ penalty kill has been perfect, while the Rangers’ power play has been sputtering. Out of seven total Rangers power plays, the Capitals have allowed exactly zero Rangers goals. Conversely, the Capitals’ power play is firing on all cylinders. They have two goals on seven power play opportunities.

The Rangers had three power plays, not including two four-on-four situations, but the Capitals penalty kill picked a great time to click, only allowing two shots on the three Rangers man-advantages.

“We’ve been working hard and working together,” said center Nicklas Backstrom when asked about what’s working on the penalty kill. “That’s the biggest key, I think. They have really good players on their team, so you’ve got to make sure to take away all those options.”

The power play that led to Green’s game-winning goal was earned after a delay-of-game penalty was called on New York’s Ryan McDonagh – a situation that Karl Alzner was faced with earlier in the game. Alzner attempted to tip the puck out of the Capitals’ zone, but it bounced up over the glass. After the initial no-call on the play, the officiating staff called into Toronto to get clarification of the rule, and it was determined that the call made on the ice was correct. It is only a penalty if the puck is deliberately shot out of the zone and ends up over the glass.

Goaltender Braden Holtby recorded his first career playoff shutout, stopping all 24 shots that came his way.  Holtby downplayed his accomplishment, acknowledging that a personal milestone takes less precedence than a team victory. “A shutout’s one thing, but a win is the big thing,” he said.

The Capitals will take on the Rangers in Game 3 of the series at Madison Square Garden on Monday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m.

 

Katie Brown is a Staff Writer for District Sports Page. She grew up in Virginia and Maryland, currently resides in Arlington, VA, and developed a love for the sport of hockey as a youngster while watching her brothers play. She combined her enthusiasm for the game with her love of writing after college. Katie has covered the Capitals as credentialed media for two seasons for several area blogs before joining the DSP staff. Katie works at a nonprofit organization by day but the rest of her time is devoted to watching, writing, and talking about hockey and perfecting her mean one-timer. You can follow Katie on Twitter@katie_brown47.

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Instant Analysis Game 2: GAME OVER GREEN; Caps take 2-0 series lead

May 4, 2013 by

Game Over Green. The Washington Capitals take a 2-0 series lead over the New York Rangers in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarterfinal matchup with a 1-0 overtime win, as Mike Green’s bomb from the high slot deflected off a Rangers’ skate past Henrik Lundqvist for the game winner.

Some thoughts:

– The Caps had to figure the Rangers would come out with more fire in the first period after dropping Game 1, and they did. The Caps did a good job killing off the Rangers power play in the middle of the period and overall was solid withstanding the Rangers early assault. The Caps looked a little sleepy on offense to start but they brought the physical game to match New York, especially the captain, whose check on Carl Hagelin set the tone for him.

– Marcus Johansson had a golden opportunity to break the scoreless tie early in the second. Playing four-on-four, Alex Ovechkin hit Johansson at the far post and he had an open net, but instead of simply sweeping the puck to the net, Johansson tried to stick handle, giving both Henrik Lundqvuist and Ryan McDonough a chance to recover and ultimately Lunqvist made the save from a prone position.

– Toward the end of the second, the Caps put on a good bit of pressure against Lundqvist but couldn’t get one to drop. The best chance came from Nick Backstrom on a nice criss-crossing feed rom Johansson to Ovechkin to Backstrom at the far post. Backstrom’s shot seemed to glance off Lundqvist’s right skate and into the corner harmlessly.

– The Caps did a pretty good job on Rick Nash all afternoon, until about 3:45 left, when Nash won a battle at center ice, split a couple of Caps D and walked in on Holtby. Troy Brouwer slashed from behind and was able to hold Nash just enough to keep him from getting a great shot off. Still, Nash hit the pipe then almost bounced the rebound in. The penalty to Brouwer earned the Rangers a two-minute advantage, but the Caps were strong again on the kill, not allowing a single shot to go through to Holtby.

– The teams traded delay of game penalties in the third, but like the rest of the first two games, the Caps had the better of play during special teams.

– Once again: Braden Holtby. He made a couple of careless plays with the puck in the first period, but after that was impenetrable. He’s building quite a Stanley Cup Playoff resume.

Game 3 is Monday night from Madison Square Garden at 7:30 pm. It’s a lot nicer to go in there 2-0 instead of 1-1.

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Washington Capitals Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 1: Holtby and penalty kill shine as Capitals take 1-0 series lead over Rangers

May 2, 2013 by

The New York Rangers and Washington Capitals are not strangers, especially in the playoffs. This isn’t the same Capitals team that the Rangers defeated in seven games last season. Things are different for both teams this time around.

This time, the Capitals have the higher seed and home ice advantage. It was imperative that the Capitals take advantage of this early against a beatable Rangers squad. Behind great goaltending and solid penalty killing, the Caps turned back the Rangers, 3-1, to take a 1-0 lead in the best of seven series.

“It’s one game,” said Caps coach Adam Oates. “Obviously you want to win them all, but it’s one game. We are still holding serve at home and we’ve just got to get ready tomorrow for Saturday.”

Carl Hagelin went behind the net and put a shot on goal that deflected off Capitals defenseman John Erskine’s skate to give the Rangers their first and only goal of the night. Hagelin would later have a breakaway chance stopped by goaltender Braden Holtby that was arguably one of the turning points in the Capitals momentum, in addition to killing off all Rangers power plays, including a 5-on-3 situation in the second period.

“Big kill,” said Capitals coach Adam Oates of the 5-on-3 penalty kill. “I thought the breakaway that Holts [Holtby] stopped on Hagelin was the big one though. “

The Capitals started to get their groove back thanks to a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin, the 31st of his career, setting the Capitals franchise record for playoff goals surpassing Peter Bondra, with whom he was tied for that honor.

Steven Oleksy proved he was more than just a pretty face by not only setting Marcus Johansson up with a lovely stretch pass, but also took a puck to the face and didn’t miss even one shift.

Marcus Johansson’s go-ahead goal in the second showcased his speed and finishing ability. Since returning to the lineup after being sidelined with a concussion, Johansson has flourished on the top line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. It was his fourth career playoff goal.

It’s probably safe to say that Jason Chimera had a pretty good day. He scored a goal, the eight playoff goal of his career, and it was his birthday. A win was the icing on the cake for him.

Braden Holtby was unequivocally the difference in this game. Aside from the early Hagelin goal, he was solid all evening for the Capitals, especially on the 5-on-3 kill, and made 35 saves on 36 shots he faced. Holtby ranks fifth all-time in Capitals franchise history with eight playoff wins.  It is also interesting to note that in his fifteen career playoff appearances, he has not lost back-to-back games.

On the same token, the Capitals have not lost back –to-back playoff games in their last 15 playoff games. The last time that happened, the Capitals were swept out of the playoffs by the Tampa Bay Lightning on May 4, 2011.

Game 2 is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, 2013 at Verizon Center, and Game 3 is scheduled for May 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden.

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Instant Analysis: Capitals take best of play to the Rangers in Game 1

May 2, 2013 by

If Game 1 is any indication, this is going to be a hell of a series.

The Washington Capitals used pressure in all three zones of the ice to neutralize the New York Rangers best players, most notably Rick Nash, to come up with an impressive 3-1 win in the first game of this Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Some thoughts:

– Given enough opportunities from the Rangers, the power play finally hit for the Caps first goal of the game. The Rangers did a good job on the first couple of Caps power plays, taking away the low post game between Mike Ribeiro, Nick Backstrom and Troy Brouwer in the slot.

How do combat that? Shoot from the point, which is precisely what Mike Green did on the Caps’ fourth extra-man advantage. Green’s bomb was off target, but it got Henrik Lundqvist moving, and Alex Ovechkin was able to corral the rebound and put it past the scrambling Lundqvist.

– The Caps power play was strong all night, but never bigger than during the 5-on-3 in the second period. Already a man down, Eric Fehr lost his stick. He blocked one shot without the twig, but in a goal line scramble he was forced to push Rangers around, and was called for an interference when he shoved Ryan Callahan down with a push in the chest.

First Johansson, then Backstrom, with Alzner and Carlson on the back line, turned away the Rangers for 57 seconds, then killed the rest of the 5-on-4 to the roars of the Verizon Center faithful.

– Using the momentum gained from the huge penalty kill, the Caps scored twice — 46 seconds apart — just a couple of minutes later, seizing control of the scoreboard.

– Things got chippy at the end of the second period, and continued late in the third and after the final horn, when Callahan and Troy Brouwer had words and slapped their sticks at each other as the teams were headed off the ice. Brouwer had words for Michael Del Zotto a couple of times during the game when the Caps forward took exception to an after-the-whistle poke by Del Zotto earlier in the game.

– Braden Holtby was sublime. The only Rangers goal came when an intended pass by Carl Hagelin bounced off John Erskine’s skate. Other than that, the Caps young netminder was stellar, making 35 saves in the win. His biggest save came with 4:03 left. On a two-on-one, John Moore slapped a bouncing puck toward Holtby’s blocker side which looked as if it hit the post and rebounded into Holtby’s equipment.

The play went to video review and the call of “no goal” stood. Regardless, Holtby got to the far post in time to get in front of the puck and keep the score at 3-1 as time wound down.

– The Caps rolled all four lines all night long. That’s good in the short term for Adam Oates, as it lets his entire roster know he has confidence in every single one of them. It’s also good in the long-term, especially if the series goes a long way as everyone expects it to.

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon at 12:30 pm Eastern (9:30 am Pacific).

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CAPS: Current and Former Capitals Signing Autographs

April 24, 2013 by

AUTOGRAPH OPPORTUNITY FOR CAPS FANS!

Several current and former Washington Capitals will be heading out to the Dulles, Virginia on Friday, April 26, 2013 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Autograph tickets are available for purchase. See information below for amount per autograph. Now is your chance to get that something special signed by your favorite Caps.

Braden Holtby - ($65)
Troy Brouwer - ($40)
Jack Hillen – ($20)
Wojek Wolski - ($20)
Aaron Volpatti - ($20)
John Erskine - ($30)

CAPS ALUMNI: (Autographs are FREE with Purchase-see site)

Bryan Watson
Ken Sabourin
Paul Mulvey
Al Hangsleben

See link for more information.

Where: 21100 Dulles Town Circle, Suite #162, Dulles, VA 20166

Jack Hillen - Captials practice at Kettler, September 14, 2012 (Cheryl Nichols/District Sports Page)

Jack Hillen – Captials practice at Kettler, September 14, 2012 (Cheryl Nichols/District Sports Page)

Cheryl Nichols is a Columnist and Photographer for District Sports Page. She is credentialed to cover the Washington Capitals and has reported on the community service and fan events for Nats News Network and Caps News Network since 2006. Cheryl is an accomplished action photographer and has been published in The Washington Post and many other local media. She was a credentialed photographer for the 2010 season covering the Washington Nationals. You can follow her on Twitter @cnichols14.

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Washington Capitals Game 45 Recap: Les Capitals frappent Les Habitent dans la nuit d’hockey

April 21, 2013 by

The Washington Capitals knew during Saturday night’s matchup in Montreal against the Canadiens that the Winnipeg Jets had cut their lead in the Southeast Division to a single point by virtue of a shootout loss to the New York Islanders. What was a big enough game already — a Saturday night game in Montreal is akin to a holiday festival — became even bigger, with Tuesday’s game against Winnipeg potentially setting up to be a game to decide the division.

With all that drama in mind, the Caps came out buzzing, took control of all three zones early, and spanked the Canadiens to the tune of a 5-1 final. As has been the case for the past 30 games, the team was led by their captain, Alex Ovechkin, who tallied twice to extend his league-leading goal total to 30, and their goalie, Braden Holtby, who made 35 saves look easy in the winning effort.

Washington is now 9-1-0 in the last 10 games.

The Caps jumped all over the Canadiens in the first period with a strong forecheck. That early attack paid dividends at 4:49 when Ovechkin corralled a turnover in the high slot, turned away from the defense, faked a pass to Marcus Johansson who was on the far post, and ripped a wrist shot past beleaguered Montreal goalie Carey Price to get on the board first.

Just over a minute later, Troy Brouwer scored the first of his two goals. Mike Ribeiro (three assists) won an offensive zone faceoff to Karl Alzner at the point. Alzner found Brouwer walking off the half-boards and the veteran forward found space between two Montreal defenders. Brouwer, from the top of the left-wing faceoff circle then whipped a shot toward net that eluded Price through a maze of bodies, including the aforementioned Ribeiro and winger Martin Erat to give the Caps a 2-0 lead not even six minutes into the contest.

With the normally rowdy Centre Bell crowd taken out of the game, the Caps turned up the forecheck even tighter, making the sledding for the slumping Canadiens almost too much to bear.

The Caps did not let up in the second stanza. Brouwer got his second of the night at 3:49 of the second frame. Ribeiro won a foot race to a puck in the corner and gained control over two Canadiens defenders and slid the puck up the boards to Marcus Johansson. The young Swede had the presence to know that Brouwer was drifting through the high slot, despite having his back to the play. Johansson hit Brouwer in stride and the veteran ripped a shot past Price for his 19th goal of the season, just three off his career high.

A little later, it was the power play’s turn to light the lamp again. Mike Green found Ovechkin in his “sweet spot” at the left-wing faceoff circle. This time, instead of unleashing his standard one-timer, the captain found Nick Backstrom at the far post for a tip-in which rattled off two posts. After a brief review, the goal stood for Backstrom’s seventh of the campaign.

Ovechkin himself closed the Capitals scoring onslaught in the third period with his 30th of the season with another power play marker. They used the same play that set up the Backstrom goal, with Ribeiro hitting Green at the top of the umbrella, who then fed to Ovi at the left-wing circle. This time, the captain was selfish and ripped the shot past Price to cap the scoring and brought a close to the competitive portion of the evening.

Through the festivities, Holtby was stellar again. Montreal broke up the shutout bid a third of the way through the third period, but the contest was well out of hand by that point. The young netminder has been dominant against Canadian teams and he was no less Saturday night, showing up the favorites of his countrymen time and again.

The Caps are off until Tuesday, when they host the Jets with a three-point lead in the division. Depending on Winnipeg’s result Monday against Buffalo, a win by the Caps Tuesday could clinch the division — and the No. 3 seed that comes with it – and put the Jets playoff hopes in peril.

The Caps have been playing in “elimination mode” pretty much since the first of February, owners of a 23-10-1 record (113 point pace) since Feb. 9 after the awful 2-8-1 start. They’ve lost in regulation just once in the past four weeks and for maybe the first time in the Ovechkin era, they have earned the mantel of “team no one wants to play in the playoffs.”

The Caps still haven’t qualified for the postseason yet, but they took one step closer Saturday night, destroying a very good team on their home ice in quite possibly the most hostile territory in the league. If the Caps can take care of their own business and qualify for the playoffs, with the East as seemingly open as it is, who knows? No one has played better in the past two months.

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Washington Capitals Game 44 Recap: Rough night in Ottawa ends streak at eight

April 18, 2013 by

BACKSTROM HURT; WINNIPEG TRIMS DIVISION LEAD TO TWO POINTS

It had to end sometime.

The Washington Capitals, one of the hottest teams in hockey the last three weeks, rode into Ottawa to face a tough Senators team on the back on an eight-game winning streak, fueled by the league’s most dangerous power play and solid goaltending. Unfortunately, the team looked sluggish and was outplayed and beaten in just about every aspect of the game by a team that could very well be their first-round playoff draw — if the Caps can hold off the competition for first place in the Southeast.

Indicative of how badly the Caps were outplayed, they were outshot by the Senators 38-19 — including 11-4 in the first period.

To add injury to insult, center Nick Backstrom missed the last 7:16 of the game with an undisclosed upper body injury, thought to have been sustained when hit in the arm with an errant Mike Green shot midway through the final frame.

The teams played an ugly, uneven first period, with neither team generating any semblance of offense. In the second, the Sens started the scoring just 1:15 in, when Kyle Turris beat Braden Holtby from along the boards with an innocent-enough looking shot to his blocker side. Holtby appeared to look to the heavens in exasperation as the puck sailed past him.

The Caps knotted things up at 11;14, as Mike Ribeiro continued his career year by knocking in a bouncing puck past Sens goalie Craig Anderson. But the tie didn’t last long.

Two minutes after Ribeiro evened things up, Holtby tried to play a puck behind his net and back out the other side to Karl Alzner. Unfortunately, Holtby’s pass was off the mark and ended up right on the tape of Sens forward Cory Conacher, who snapped it into the unattended goal before Holtby could get back to his post.

That score stood until little more than one minute remaining, when Ottawa added an empty-net goal after the Caps lost the offensive-zone draw with six skaters. For the night, the Caps were beat in the faceoff circle, winning just 38 percent of the draws.

Though Holtby could be assigned direct blame on both goals, no one should hang the loss on the Caps goalie. This was a team-wide lackluster effort.

It’s bound to happen at some point after such a lengthy winning streak, but the Caps can ill afford to let up with the Winnipeg Jets breathing down their necks. The Jets cut the Caps lead in the division to two points with a 4-3 overtime win over Carolina. There is no rest for the weary, at the Caps travel to Montreal for a 7:00 pm Saturday showdown with Les Habitent before next Tuesday’s all-important head-to-head matchup with Winnipeg.

All hands on deck from here on out, but if Backstrom’s injury is anything more than a bruise…

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Washington Capitals Game 41 Recap: Caps keep streaking, knock off Canes 3-1

April 11, 2013 by

The Washington Capitals know that all they need to do is take care of their own business the rest of the way to secure a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Thursday night, against a Carolina Hurricanes team that has nothing to play for, the Caps withstood a clunky start to put another two points to their total, beating the Canes 3-1 to extend their late-season win streak to six games.

Troy Brouwer had two goals, including the empty netter with five seconds left to put the final nail in the coffin. Mike Green scored his ninth of the season, and Braden Holtby was excellent yet again, registering 43 saves in the win.

Alzner, Beagle, Wolski, Ovechkin gather around Mike Green to celebrate his goal - Carolina Hurricanes v. Washington Capitals, 4/11/2013 (Cheryl Nichols/District Sports Page)

Alzner, Beagle, Wolski, Ovechkin gather around Mike Green to celebrate his goal – Carolina Hurricanes v. Washington Capitals, 4/11/2013 (Cheryl Nichols/District Sports Page)

The first period was a bit of a scramble. The Caps were granted an early power play on a delay of game call just 3:06 into the contest. The advantage lasted all of eight seconds though, as Troy Brouwer erased the power play with a high sticking infraction of his own. Things got worse as Jack Hillen was called for tripping while the teams skated four on four. It only took Carolina only 10 seconds to capitalize on the four-on-three, with Jeff Skinner beating Caps goalie Braden Holtby for the first goal of the game.

In fact, it took the first ten minutes of the game for the Caps to wake up for this one. They were outshot at one point 14-0. But a tripping call against Alexander Semin gave the Caps another power play in the middle of the frame. They did not score, but the advantage was enough for the Capitals to get their legs under them. The play the rest of the period was much more balanced, and the shot differential after 20 minutes was 15-8.

The hard work late in the first paid dividends in the second. The Caps were having the better of the play already, and were given their second man-advantage of the frame at 7:54 when Jordan Stall went off for slashing. The Caps finally took advantage of the situation, as Mike Ribeiro found Tory Brouwer in the low slot for a one-timer that eluded Canes goalie Justin Peters 28 saves) blocker side to knot the game at one.

It was Brouwer’s first goal in six games.

After a quick and uneventful fight between Matt Hendricks and Nicholas Blanchard, the Caps went back to work. After an extensive offensive zone possession from several lines, Jay Beagle found Mike Green floating into the offensive zone. Green took the pass near the blue line, eluded a soft attempt of a check from Jeff Skinner and walked in on Peters. With Alex Ovechkin distracting Peters at the top of the crease, Green rifled a wicked wrist shot over Peters’ blocker to give the Caps a 2-1 lead.

The Capitals mostly tried to play keep-away in the third period, and they managed the task primarily due to some excellent work by Holtby. After the two-game rest given to him by head coach Adam Oates, Holtby shook off any rust early and was stellar down the stretch, including a blocker save with about 1:30 left that could have forced the issue at the end of the game.

The Caps have a couple of days off to rest — and scoreboard watch — until they face Tampa Bay Saturday night. But with task at hand, they continue to excel as the regular season very quickly now is dwindling.

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