(You’re damn right this is the headline image.)
What’s that thing called? That thing when you have the puck and then you shoot it at the other team’s net? It’s a word that’s like “trying to score” except it’s one word instead of three, and I think Canadians pronounce it wrong.
Whatever it was, it was missing in Montreal for most of Thursday night. The Capitals played a lot of defense, but less so of the other thing until they had surrendered the lead. Then Alex Ovechkin did his thing: spat in the dirt, said nyet, and made this a goddamn game.
Enjoy this one.
It was the Canadiens who scored first, with Jeff Petry beating Braden Holtby after a penalty expired early in the second period. Joel Ward struck back with a lovely rush goal on an odd-man rush, and then Alex Ovechkin broke Peter Bondra’s all-time scoring lead with an Ovi shot from the Ovi spot. The Canadiens instantly returned fire with goals by Tom Gilbert and Lars Eller– thanks to bad defense and badder bounces, respectively.
The Caps earned a power play in the third, and Alex Ovechkin converted it to tie the game with nine minutes remaining. John Carlson unleashed a bomb from another power-play, maybe tipped by Joel Ward, to give the Caps a late lead. With Curtis Glencross in the box for a silly penalty, PK Subban scored a gorgeous game-tying goal to force overtime
Shootout bullets!
- Galchenyuk did not put the biscuit in the basket.
- Kuznetsov did not put the biscuit in the basket. Stupid post.
- Desharnais did not put the biscuit in the basket.
- Backstrom did not put the biscuit in the basket.
- Parenteau did not put the biscuit in the basket. Flashy glove save.
- Ovechkin did not put the biscuit in the basket. Hart showdown.
- Patches did not put the biscuit in the basket. Diving save by Braden.
- BROUWER PUTS THE BROUSCUIT IN THE BRAUSKET
Caps beat Habs 5-4 in le shootout.
- It never ends with Alex Ovechkin. Tonight he scored number 473, which eclipsed the great Peter Bondra for the most in a Capitals uniform (which was ugly), and number 474, which tied the game late. The volume of the achievement is significant, but it was also remarkable on the micro scale– just look at the beauty of that second-period goal. Ovechkin did the move that people said he could never do again …three years ago. He drove up the boards, turned to center, used the defenseman as a screen–nothing but net. Just unspeakably pretty. To describe it any further is vulgar.
- Also vulgar: the Caps’ offense (oh, that’s the word!) through the first twenty minutes. They had 8 shot attempts total by the end of the first period– against one of the weakest playoff-bound teams at 5v5 in the league. Here’s the shot chart from the indispensable hockeystats.ca:
- What was behind the lack of offense early on? It seemed to me that the Caps were way too eager to cede the zone to the Habs, leading to longer shoot sessions for the home team and way too few opportunities on attack. That– and that were in general too meek by half when they actually got in the Montreal zone.
- Please use the comments to tell me which goals you think Braden Holtby should of had. I’m just tickled that he got an assist on Ovi’s 473rd, and I’m infinitely grateful that Tim Gleason and Holtby both escaped their collision in the third period without injury. What a weird, stupid bounce. Not a great game from Holtbro.
- Monster two-goal game for Joel Ward. He scored numbers 18 and 19 tonight– the second a savvy deflection on John Carlson’s all-american bomb from the blue line.
- The Capitals suck at getting power plays, so here’s a new strategy: Put Justin Peters in net, then body slam the opposing team into him. Boom: instant power play. That’s how PK Subban got the opportunity to tie it up late– after Curtis Glencross got tackled into Carey Price.
Joe B suit of the night, ugh, that tie looks like a spring break portapotty
Once again, we dedicate the conclusion to Alex Ovechkin. This was his 15th multi-goal game this season and the 100th of his super career– but the dude still can’t get a hat trick to save his life. Twice he tied the game. He’s a force of gosh darn nature.
Had the Caps won in regulation or overtime, they could have passed the Islanders in the Metro. With the SOW, that didn’t happen, but it’s underscores this fact: anything can happen in this final week.
CORRECTION:
@russianmachine It appears Caps pass Islanders on greater number of points earned in games between 2 teams tiebreaker (tied on ROW)
— Steve Caimano (@CTRSteve) April 3, 2015
Hold on to your butts.
