June 22, 2017

Washington Capitals Game 77 Recap: Caps set season high in shots in win over Avalanche

April 1, 2016 by

OVECHKIN NETS NO. 46, BEAGLE GETS FANCY AS CAPS DUMP AVALANCHE

Alex Ovechkin scored his 46th goal of the season to lead the Washington Capitals over the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Friday night.

Facing a desperate Avalanche team that needed a win to stay in the playoff hunt, the Capitals (55-16-6) showed that the offense may be back on track — just in time for the playoffs.

Play and goal of the night go to Mr. Jay Beagle. With a great defensive takeaway behind the Avalanche goal he turned the puck and put it behind the back of netminder Seymon Varlamov. See below: [Read more…]

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Washington Capitals Game 75 Recap: Caps clinch Presidents trophy; home ice for playoffs

March 28, 2016 by

CAPS CLINCH BEST OVERALL BEFORE ANYONE ELSE IN EAST CLINCH PLAYOFFS

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Led by a three-goal third period, The Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 and officially clinching the 2015-16 President’s trophy and assured home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs.

With a couple of rebound goals,  a late power play strike, and solid goal-tending, the Caps (54-16-5, 113) wrapped up the final regular-season prize of the Presidents trophy for most points in the regular season — and still have seven games to play.

The fourth line came to play and Tom Wilson benefited the most from it. Picking up a rebound off a Mike Richards shot, Wilson made a nifty little backhand move from his knees to put the puck in the goal and the Caps on top for the rest of the night. An expert exploitation of a broken Blue Jackets’ stick. [Read more…]

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Washington Capitals Game 72 Recap: Caps finally start to put the script together

March 22, 2016 by

CAPS CLINCH DIVISION, CONFERENCE WITH 10 GAMES TO GO

(Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)

(Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Capitals clinched the Metro Division and Eastern Conference to guarantee home ice throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs with a 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators.

For the first time in months, the Caps heeded their locker room motto: Stick to the Script.

The script included scoring first. Left completely unattended at Ottawa’s net at 2:32 into the first period, Mike Richards got the first goal with an easy conversion after Tom Wilson’s solid takeaway on the Senators’ failed clear.

[Read more…]

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Washington Capitals Game 62 Recap: Comeback Caps do it again, beat Pens on late power play goal

March 2, 2016 by

LATE THIRD-PERIOD POWER PLAY GOAL LIFTS CAPS OVER PENS

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

(Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one.

The Washington Capitals came out slow, got their stuff together, came roaring back, and beat a quality opponent with a late to goal to keep their season record above record-setting pace.

Tuesday, Matt Niskanen (or was it T.J. Oshie?) was the player that scored the late goal, and it was the dreaded Pittsburgh Penguins that suffered the come-from-ahead loss to these never-say-die Caps, as Washington escaped with a 3-2 win before an enthralled Verizon Center crowd.

Oshie seemed to have gotten a piece of Niskanen’s slap shot from center point, which came with 6:22 to go, but as of late Tuesday the goal was awarded to the defenseman, his fourth of the year.

Regardless, Braden Holtby (28 saves) and the Caps D was able to make it stand up over those final few playoff-like intense moments. Holtby won his 40th of the season, becoming the first Caps goalie to win 40 in back-to-back seasons. [Read more…]

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Washington Capitals Game 58 Recap: Richards nets first goal as Caps top Coyotes

February 22, 2016 by

RICHARDS AND OVECHKIN SCORE 26 SECONDS APART IN THIRD PERIOD, CAPS WIN 4TH STRAIGHT

(Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

(Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Washington Capitals have given up the first goal in 12 of their last 15 games. They’ve lost three of those games, took a loser point from one, and won the rest. On Monday night, they added another to the win column beating the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 for their fourth consecutive win.

The Capitals are the first team in NHL history to win 44 games through 58 games.

Leading the Caps in “almost but not quite goals” and “he has to score soon right?” Mike Richards  finally broke his 27-game scoreless streak and netted his very first goal as a Cap. After numerous shots, including a nifty breakaway short-hander that he took end to end with some dazzling stick work, it was a dirty grinder goal from a rebound off Coyotes netminder Louis Domingue that finally gave the blue collar player his due.

“I was assuming with my luck that it would be disallowed,” Richards said of his goal “It has been awhile since I have scored a goal of any importance. It was nice with the standing ovation and pretty special too.” [Read more…]

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Washington Capitals Game 55 Recap: Yet another hero emerges as Caps beat Kings

February 16, 2016 by

GRUBAUER SPECTACULAR WITH 39 SAVES; KUZNETSOV NETS WINNER LATE IN THIRD

(Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

(Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

Brooks Orpik finally returned after a long absence to play his fifteenth game of the season, but it was Philipp Grubauer’s 14th appearance in net this year that propelled the Caps to a hard-fought victory.

Grubauer made 39 saves, keeping the Caps competitive on the way to the 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. The young netminder stopped everything from nasty rebounds to one-on-one breakaways — the backup keeper was nothing short of astounding in play.

The Kings (33-20-3 69 points) and Washington Capitals (41-10-4 86 points) faced off at Verizon in a game that at times felt like one that would be played in June, as Justin Williams and Mike Richards took on their former club. [Read more…]

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Washington Capitals Game 40 Recap: Caps extend division lead with win over Islanders

January 7, 2016 by

OVECHKIN REGISTERS 497TH GOAL OF ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER

(Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

(Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

Nate Schmidt scored his second goal of the season, and Braden Holtby made 34 saves as the Capitals extended their lead in the Metropolitan Division with a 4-1 win over the second-place New York Islanders on Thursday night in Brooklyn.

A strong forecheck was the name of the game in the first period for Washington, whose 63 standings points are good enough for a league-best, one game shy of the season’s midway point. Nine of their 10 first-period shots came from their forwards, two of which found their way past Jaroslav Halak. Alex Ovechkin’s 22nd of the season was the 497th of his career, as he approaches the coveted 500 goal mark with his career barely a decade old.

Marcus Johansson was sent to the penalty box 8:42 into the game for an illegal check to Thomas Hickey’s head, a play which will more likely than not garner further attention from the league’s disciplinary office.

[Read more…]

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Washington Capitals sign center Mike Richards to one-year deal

January 6, 2016 by

The Capitals have signed free agent center Mike Richards to a one-year, $1 million pro-rated contract, the team announced late Wednesday afternoon.

Richards had spent the previous four seasons in the Kings’ organization, winning Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014. Richards’ contract was terminated by the Kings last summer after he arrested in his native Canada for allegedly possessing a controlled substance. He has a court date pending on Jan. 28. After the NHL Players’ Association filed a grievance with the Kings, the team and Richards settled in October for $10.5 million. [Read more…]

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