Photo: Evan Vucci
The Capitals are mediocre when tied. It is most evident early in the game. You may have noticed this in the first half of Monday’s game against the Coyotes, when they sucked. The Coyotes controlled possession for the first 25 minutes during which Justin Williams kept hitting people in the face and Kevin Connauton, apparently a person who plays hockey, scored for Phoenix Arizona. It was the 11th time in 15 games the Caps have allowed the first goal.
Washington, however, is brilliant when trailing. After the enemy goal, the Capitals’ possession chart looked like an escalator when the Coyotes’ looked like a piddling moving walkway. Two and a half minutes Connauton scored, Evgeny Kuznetsov finger twirled his way to a tie game. The Caps continued to pressure the ‘Yotes, missing a few chances at some gaping nets.
In the third period, Ovechkin added a perfect snipe to give Washington the lead. Later that same minute, Mike Richards added his first goal with the Capitals. Baby faced Connor Murphy got one back for Arizona, which made us very nervous, but eventually very happy. Caps beat Coyotes, 3-2.
- Late in the first, Alex Ovechkin boarded Jordan Martinook, cross-checking him in the numbers and sending Martinook’s face into the wall. It wasn’t malicious. Ovechkin didn’t come in hard and stayed by Matinook after the play, sticking his arm down to see if he was injured. For players weaker than Ovi, the cross-check may have been harmless. But Ovi is a wrecking ball, which has led to a rap sheet with the Department of Player Safety. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ovechkin got suspended.
Ovi boarding penalty on Martinook pic.twitter.com/zjlJDxNb0T
— steph (@myregularface) February 23, 2016
- If the Capitals do lose Ovechkin, the lineup will be slightly less threatening. Ovi was a monster Monday night with nine shots on net, 15 shot attempts, a myriad of scoring chances, and one of the most glorious wrist shots I’ve ever seen.
- Brooks Orpik and Dmitry Orlov have been superb lately. Barry Trotz has praised Orpik’s communications skills talking to me this morning, but the Coyotes goal was a little bit of “oh, I thought you were going to be there.” The biggest culprit, however, was Orpik’s stick blade, which deflected the puck in very top right corner of net. But other than that, they were solid.
- Not solid: Nate Schmidt and John Carlson, who had terrible possession numbers and a goal against. Worse: the fourth line. Michael Latta was not on the ice for a single shot attempt for while Stan Galiev was on the ice for just one and Brooks Laich three.
- Last game Brooks Orpik scored. Tonight it was Mike Richards, who tallied his first goal since January 3, 2015 playing on the third line in place of the sick Marcus Johansson. Verizon Center erupted in two standing well-deserved ovations. He was also Washington’s best possession player at five-on-five, with 60 percent of shot attempts going the Capitals’ way with him on the ice, and had five shots on goal in over 15 minutes of ice time. Richards career looked to be over a few months ago. Now he has a chance to win another Stanley Cup. He’s seems to be a changed man and is loved by his Capitals teammates. America loves a comeback.
- Speaking of Richards, he was great on the Washington’s excellent penalty kill. Despite Washington’s continuous parade to the penalty box, the Coyotes only had a couple shots in 10 minutes and thirty seconds of power play time. They were scoreless in six opportunities on the man advantage.
- Finally, we’re a blog centered on the Capitals’ Russians: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Stan Galiev. Briefly, for the first time ever, they were all on the ice at the same time.
Wide lapels for your resident stud.
Forty-four wins and 92 points for the Caps. It’s February. Last year, the Caps won 45 games when the regular concluded in April. With 44 wins in 58 games, this is the greatest start in NHL history.
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