Photo: Andy Devlin
It’s too early in the season for late-night hockey, but okay, Thursday’s productivity be damned, let’s do this.
The Washington Capitals went into Edmonton with hopes of starting a perfect road trip, but a couple mistakes marred an otherwise solid game.
Justin Schultz scored about seven minutes in, directing Teddy Purcell’s clever shot behind Braden Holtby. The Caps tied it up with John Carlson’s power-play one-timer.
Mike Green scored a gorgeous one early in the second period, but a whiff by Ovechkin set Ryan Nugent-Hopkins loose to tie it up just twenty second later. With Jason Chimera in the box, Nikita Nikitin got one past a screened Braden Holtby to give the Oilers the lead.
The Caps fired furiously in the third, but couldn’t beat Ben Scrivens.
Oilers beat Caps 3-2. That’s the Caps’ first regulation loss.
- Pernicious drug ogre. Probably don’t opine. Pithy diphthong orator. Prancing dancing origin. Pants dance opulence.
- John Carlson‘s goal came at the end of an impressive offensive-zone occupation, but the more impressive part was the assist. That smart pass from Nick Backstrom made 500 points in the Swede’s career. He got that number faster than anyone in his draft class– game 501 of his pro career. Backstrom is DC’s best-kept secret, and I’m gonna keep it that way by making this bullet end now.
- BTW, Ian totally made that 500th point image for the last game, which is an oil painting and that was what I was talking about here:
Did you know "ian oland" is an anagram for "oil painting"
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) October 19, 2014
- Alex Ovechkin had an odd game. He had nary a shot until four minutes into the third– and just two blocked attempts up to that point. His mondo whiff after Green’s goal made the minus he got on that play justifiably earned. Ovi played great in the third period though, and at least he enjoyed his buddies’ goals.
- Road games in Edmonton mean a homecoming for Jason Chimera, but the cheetah didn’t make the family proud with an ill-advised slash in the offensive zone. Nikita Nikitin scored on the ensuring Edmonton power play. Womp womp sad trombone.
- I don’t think I need a creepy yellow light above the faceoffs. The guys crowded around about to take a faceoff are enough of a context clue for me.
- I keep on peeking at the shot-attempt charts to find something interesting, but it basically looks like this: everyone is good, and the Caps are gonna win a lot of game playing like this.
- But Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens was doing handstands out there. The Caps’ offense kept gaining momentum in the back half of the game, but the professor had the answer to everything.
- Jay Beagle did just fine in his first game of the season. Stepping in for Brooks Laich, Beagle killed it on the faceoff dot and enjoyed whatever the hell is happening to make that second line so good. (I think Burakovsky is magic and I’m collecting the evidence to prove it.)
- Trotz shoulda put 8-19-16 together late in the game if you ask me but you didn’t except you kinda did by reading this recap.
Joe B suit of the night.
Oh well. The Caps played great, but they made a couple goofs and it cost them their undefeated-in-regulation record. A hot goalie can do that, so let’s not get worked up about it. The Caps can play a carbon copy of this game in Calgary and come out with a 6-goal victory.
I’m not bummed, and you shouldn’t be either.
Maybe you went to bed before the game. That would’ve been nice. Maybe you watched the Age of Ultron trailer. I did not, and I will not, but I hope you loved it. Maybe you don’t have to spend all day Thursday flying to Chicago and doing grown-up business things in business suits. If any of this is true for you, you win– even if the Caps didn’t.
Goodnight!
