Photo: Rob Carr
Speaking about Saturday night’s 4-1 loss to the Sabres, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said the team “didn’t invest enough in the game.” That seems like a stupider way of talking about “compete level.” Nevertheless, the Capitals diversified their assets tonight! Or whatever. I’m a liberal arts major.
The Rangers got the jump early, outshooting the Caps 5-1 in the opening 10 minutes. Just past the halfway mark of the first period, Chris Kreider converted on that zone time, tipping a Ryan McDonagh shot from the point past a helpless Braden Holtby. Late in the period, however, the Caps vaunted power play got them back-in when Alex Ovechkin stepped out of his office to fire a wrist shot past Antti Raanta, making his first start in 11 games.
In the second, it was the power play again. This time Nicklas Backstrom fired a brilliant pass from the half wall to Marcus “Soft Serve” Johansson, who tapped-in the puck for the go-ahead tally. Washington added to their lead with a Taylor (!) Scorney, but the goal was later awarded to Justin Williams, who got a stick on the shot. Kreider put the Rangers back within one off a broken play in the slot, another one Holtby had little chance of stopping.
The final frame sealed DC’s win as J-Will added another tip-in tally before hitting the empty net (well, the Rangers helped) for his second career hat trick. Caps beat Rangers 5-2!
- After getting pulled last night, Braden Holtby was terrific — at least in the 26:55 he played. Braden made 20 saves on 22 shots. Nothing amazing on the stat sheet, but he was not at fault on the goals and kept the Caps in it when the Rangers were pressing hard.
#Caps goaltender Braden Holtby (dehydration) will not return to today's game.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 18, 2016
- That’s why I drunk like six liters of water today. Alas, I also missed the third period because of that.
- For the second night in a row, Philipp Grubauer was solid after a Holtby premature departure.
- Since the Rangers last held the Metro Division lead in early December, the Caps are 17-3-2 while New York has nose-dived. The Caps now have a 17 point lead on the Islands while the Rangers sit in third place.
- Justin Williams stole all the goals tonight. Two tip-ins and an empty netter. He and the rest of the second line, which sometimes featured Mike Richards, had an impressive seven points tonight. Williams had a game-high five shots on goal as well.
- Richards has quickly become an important player for Barry Trotz. Sunday, he centered the fourth line alongside Brooks Laich and Stan Galiev. For the second night in a row, Richards skated around 13 minutes. He was again called upon for major PK minutes, skating three minutes a man down. He was great. A promotion to the top-nine doesn’t seem far off. This is looking like a great signing so far, albeit through two games. Richards was also 14 for 20 in the faceoff dot.
- Speaking to the Capitals Radio Network during the first intermission, assistant coach Todd Reirden were looking for new wrinkles on the power play. They showed one Sunday, where Nicklas Backstrom holds the puck on the half way. He can either shoot it, pass to Alex Ovechkin, pass to TJ Oshie or find Marcus Johansson in the blue paint. That’s how Jojo got his second goal in as many games. Johansson has scored a point in 13 straight games.
- Speaking of Ovi, he too added a wrinkle, turning a muffed pass into his 27th goal of the year off, good for second overall in the NHL. Washington’s man-advantage unit was two for five tonight (40 percent).
- Matt Niskanen and Karl Alzner skated a bunch of minutes. They were awful again. John Carlson has now missed 11 straight games.
- Aaron Ness and Taylor (!) Chorney were fantastic, however. Chorney also scored, with a plus-eight even-strength shot attempt differential. Ness was team-high plus-13. Chorns was the game’s number three star.
Locker continued his trippy tie bit. I love it. Joe B., meanwhile, looked just exquisite.
The Capitals are the first team to 70 points!
