The Washington Capitals had never played in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, home of the New York Islanders. That unfamiliarity led to an unorthodox game from the Caps, replete with a dirty hit by Marcus Johansson, Karl Alzner’s confident offense, and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for Tom Wilson. Okay, well it was mostly unorthodox. Let’s do the goals.
Like I said, Jason Chimera scored again, a low-angle tap-in made possible by the hard work of third-line center Marcus Johansson, then Alex Ovechkin put the Isles in a two-goal hole after Karl Alzner stoutly delivered the puck into the offensive zone.
Brock Nelson scored in the second period, but who cares, because then Nate Schmidt restored the two-goal hole thanks to a glorious takeaway and assist by Nick Backstrom, who also got the empty-netter.
Caps beat Isles 4-1!
- Marcus Johansson has been third-line center for three games now, and he’s been splendid from top to bottom. Known among dummies as a soft player who’s easy to push off the puck, Marcus instead won a big board battle to set up a goal and then he straight-up hit a dude in the head. Like right in the noggin. Dirty dirty.
- Alex Ovechkin now has 497 goals, and every single one of them was scored in this stifling “dead puck” era. His impending milestone is wonderful, but in this game Karl Alzner’s iron-lock carry into the offensive zone was the more noteworthy achievement.
- The Caps Road Crew was in Brooklyn for the game. I asked them what it’s like in the Isles’ new digs:
@russianmachine It's not the Coliseum for sure. More of an MSG crowd. Bandwagon fans & lotta trash talk. Bldg feels small, like AHL.
— Caps Road Crew (@CapsRoadCrew) January 8, 2016
@russianmachine Odd. #CapsIslesCRC #Caps pic.twitter.com/Wsp3F58xgD
— Caps Road Crew (@CapsRoadCrew) January 8, 2016
- A second-period penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct was assessed to Tom “unsportsmanlike conduct” Wilson, resulting in a bazillion shots for the Isles, which Braden Holtby just barely handled. And as soon as that penalty was done,
- Nate Schmidt scored! We like him! But again, it was a night of the Guy Behind The Guy. This time it was Nick Backstrom, who performed grand theft puck on Marek Zidlicky before lining up Schmidt for that mondo slapshot that buzzed Jaroslav Halak’s armpit before hitting the back of the net. Oh Nate, you are the most roll-y of the cinnamon rolls.
Every Nate Schmidt interview ever. #sunshine pic.twitter.com/3sM1qnAnYt
— Becca (@BeccaH_JR) January 8, 2016
- Nate’s goal came right after an Isles power play, which explains why he wasn’t in the defensive zone, where he and Dmitry Orlov spent an awful lot of this game. I’ll be interested to see which NYI players they were seeing so much of.
- On the other hand, the third defensive pairing of Aaron Ness and Taylor “Taylor” Chorney got easy assignments and light minutes, but they were a two-headed antediluvian god of destruction in that precious little time, earning a possession score north of 85 percent.
- Ness didn’t play at all while the Caps were shorthanded, which is disappointing, because I bet he’s got some PK fire.
- Nick Backstrom scored that empty-netter while there were seven New York skaters on the ice for some reason. Jack Capuano pulled Halak with three minutes left, then Ovi made this hit, then the empty netter.
- Thanks to @gr8willis for pointing this out: Tom Wilson displayed a tremendous amount of restraint against a team that wanted to drink his blood and make head cheese out of his head meat. That new leaf Ian was talking about: I could see it– if Wilson keeps this up.
- Seems like a weird night when Evgeny Kuznetsov does not do something nutty and good.
Joe B suit of the night
When the Caps cemented the lead in the second period, I worried they would sit back for the game’s remainder, hoping to merely outlast the Isles and their inevitable comeback effort. Instead, the Caps played a solid final period with terrific neutral-zone play, particularly at their own blue line.
The team is still depleted, and there are 29 other teams are drawing a target on their back, but this was a solid hockey game. It was no bailamos game, but it gives me a lot of confidence as to what Washington might achieve in 2016.
Catch you guys early on Saturday afternoon. I’ll be writing from a rowdy bar in northwest DC, so, uh, we’ll see how that goes.
