Photo credit: Gregg Forwerck
The Washington Capitals got rocked by Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. Thursday looked like more of the same until Alex Ovechkin threw the team over his husky Russian shoulders and carried them kicking and screaming into the W.
This one could have gone very different. It’s good to know your Capitals can still surprise you.
Caps beat Canes 3-2.
- Alex Semin scored 74 seconds into the game– an easy one from the paint as Marcus Johansson lost his assignment while searching for his stick. It was kind of a classic Semin game: he whiffed on two great opportunities after that.
- Jeff Skinner ran into Tomas Kundratek‘s knee in the first period, sending the Hershey call-up to the locker room for the rest of the game. In his absence, Steve Oleksy ate up a lot of ice time and finished with a minus-11 Corsi. So… ouch.
- That second goal was a weird-ass, slow-rolling, knuckle-y deflection. I can’t in good conscience put Michal Neuvirth on the hook for that one or the point-blank bullet from Semin. Great work from Neuvy in net.
- Eric Fehr nearly had a repeat of that goal-of-the-year nominee. He didn’t get the goal, but he did draw a penalty in the effort. Why doesn’t he have a new contract yet?
- Settle a bet for me: does Raleigh’s horn guy sound like a drunk Louis Armstrong or Sam Wolk with sinusitis?
- Alex Ovechkin hit the 700-point mark with his 3rd period power play goal. As Neil Greenberg points out, Ovi’s 700 is just about 50/50 goals and assists. Kid’s got a bright future ahead of him– either as a goal-scorer or playmaker. Ovi led both teams in shots on goal with 6.
- Joey Crabb caught a penalty for a phantom boarding hit. In reality, Bobby Sanguinetti (spelled it right on my first try!) just fell and hit the corner nastily. No malice in it, which I guess the refs realized, as they gave the Caps a make-up cool soon after.
- Eric Fehr and Alex Semin got matching minors for roughing in the third. It felt weird to type that. We didn’t even get to see it happen. Dammit.
- Alex Ovechkin got behind the Carolina D and suckered Ellis out of net to secure the game-winner. I’m not sure if he knocked it in or if Ribeiro or Fehr was the agent. I don’t truly care. Alex Ovechkin won this game.
This game was as bad as it gets through 20 minutes. The second period showed some improvement, but it’s not in my nature to get interpret a Joey Crabb goal as a turning of the tide. No, it was Alex Ovechkin who gave this game some spirit in the third period with that power play goal. It was Alex Ovechkin who won this game by putting the puck behind Dan Ellis with just over two minutes left.
Leadership from your captain. In a week of harsh scrutiny, could you ask for anything more?
I don’t think the Caps have life in the postseason, but they played with heart and sometimes that’s enough. That’s enough tonight.
WHAT THE WHAT WHATY THE OWQUUOUQWF GOALLLL OVIIII OR FEHHHRRR WHO CARES GOAL
— RMNB (@russianmachine) March 15, 2013
