Now, on Saturday, we had no 16-game winning streak on the line, but standings points count the same no matter who you beat. The Ottawa Senators aren’t a good team so you might have expected a letdown in the Caps play, and we did see of some that through three periods, but thanks to excellent goaltending the Caps pulled out another two points.
Trevor Jenkins Oshie put the Caps up 1-0 early, and his goal also involved the 500th assist of Nicklas Backstrom’s career. Well done, Nicky. The rest of the first was a bunch of cycling in the Senators zone and a few outside shots against Braden Holtby that he easily handled. Shots were 10-5 Ottawa.
The second period came and went without anything notable on the score-sheet outside of the two teams exchanging power plays. The Senators had a couple great late chances including a ping off the crossbar from Erik Karlsson, but Braden Holtby was elite, per usual. Shots 21-13 Ottawa (yuck).
The third period was pretty much more of the same. A few Caps rush chances here, a few Sens shots from the outside there. We were still locked at 1-0 through the first ten minutes. Braden Holtby held down the fort for the last ten minutes earning his second straight shutout.
Caps beat Senators 1-0!
- Nicklas Backstrom, with his first period assist to TJ Oshie, became the first player in franchise history with 500 career NHL assists, only the tenth Swedish-born player to do so and the 139th player in league history to reach that total.
- Karl Alzner just had his tenth straight game under 50 percent of shot attempts. He finished it off with a late-game boarding penalty. That is not a good trend and something that shouldn’t happen on a team as good as the Caps.
- We had a scary moment in the second period when TJ Oshie took a hit to his previously injured shoulder from Dion Phaneuf and went down the tunnel. He later returned to the game, then got hurt again and left for good in the same period.
- Our old friend and current Toronto Maple Leafs property, Brooks Laich tweeted out his congratulations to Backstrom for his milestone assist.
- The Caps power play was pretty powerless. No shots on two opportunities and if I had one word to describe both chances it would be blech.
- However, the other side of the Caps special teams was fantastic yet again. The penalty kill went three for three.
- Braden Holtby is the man. He saved 30 shots to add to the 29-save shutout over Columbus.
Reporting from enemy territory for @russianmachine Canada’s Prime Minister’s savage as ever. pic.twitter.com/wBe4rhfq59
— Shea Angus (@Sheangus) January 8, 2017
Joe B suit of the night
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsSens pic.twitter.com/ZTT0hS4K9n
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 8, 2017
See you on Monday for a match-up with the Montreal Carey Prices.
