Photo: Amanda Bowen
Winless for what seems like weeks, the Washington Capitals looked a bit flat at home against the New York Islanders. The Isles had a free pass into the Caps zone, whereas the Caps looked aimless, dumping and chasing to get deep. But possession aside, the Caps were the better finishers and escaped a close game with a #rego win thanks to their returned Captain and his late goal.
The Isles’ opening goal stung– it was (ex-Cap) Mikhail Grabovski off John Tavares through a billion screens. TJ Oshie got his 16th of the season off a pass from Nick Backstrom. The Isles had the puck for a million years but didn’t actually score, so Andre Burakovsky tapped in a puck set up by Jason Chimera to give the Caps the lead. With a chip shot from the paint, Josh Bailey made the game new in the third period.
Caps beat Isles 3-2! So this is what winning feels like!
- The ceremonial puck-drop gave me the feels.
- Tom Wilson ended Lubomir Visnovsky‘s career during last year’s playoffs. One of Lubo’s most common D partners, Thomas Hickey, did not like that one. bit. He creamed Wilson in a dirty hit sandwich, and elbow and punch to the head. This was retribution, no doubt about it. Flashback tweet from last year:
Hickey: (Wilson) went in to hurt our guy… (Lubo being hurt) makes me sick to my stomach." #Isles
— Stephen (@StephenCLorenzo) April 22, 2015
- What is wrong with John Carlson? Sincere question. He doesn’t look a fraction of the player he was last season. His possession stats were atrocious and his DOG in the final minutes nearly cost the team a win. If he can’t turn this around soon, Trotz should bury him for a bit.
- The Caps’ terrible possession performance did not extend to the fourth line. Michael Latta was your 5v5 shot-attempt differential leader, and he even had one nifty breakaway scoring chance.
- On the flip side, faced with so many Isles attempts, the Caps had top block a whole bunch of shots. Oshie, Williams, and Backstrom each blocked three. Quick: name some other players who you don’t want to see blocking multiple shots per game.
- Speaking of the dude, TJ Oshie has 16 goals in 49 games. That’s, uh, not looking great for my 30-goal contest with Pat Holden.
- Tremendous effort from Jason Chimera to set up Andre Burakovsky‘s fifth goal in four games. Chimera drove low, then, with his backhand, sent the puck between Halak and the post. Burra is NBA Jam on fire right now.
- Cal Clutterbuck (funny name, underrated player) blew a tire (hockey slang for a skate blade) in the final frame (third period). He collided with the boards, and it looked like it smarted.
Please follow me past Vogs’ sassy tweet at the expense of NHL.com so we can wrap this up.
So far, the new https://t.co/c44MfezQen is more reminscent of new Coke than anything else. Great idea to change it all up in midseason, eh?
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) February 5, 2016
Returned from suspension/injury, Alex Ovechkin didn’t look to be at the peak of his powers, but even a muted Ovi is enough to score a big goal. And all of a sudden, for the first time in like twenty days, the Caps are winners.
It feels so good.
