On Monday “we” had a match-up of handsome goaltenders who also happen to be the two best at the position in the entire world. One of those men, Braden Holtby, is currently playing the best hockey of his career in this young blogger’s opinion. Three straight games of absolute dominance, and he won a duel with the perceived best netminder in the entire league on a big stage at the Bell Centre. Be thankful for him, Caps fans. “We” are lucky.
The first was a highly competitive and fast period that saw your Capitals go up 1-0 on the Habs after Nicklas Backstrom put home a rebound from an Alex Ovechkin shot to put the good guys on top. A quick goal from the “new” first line with TJ Oshie out. Shots 12-7 Caps at the end of 20 minutes.
The Caps dominated the second period in pretty much every positive stat that you can think of except the one that counts most, goals scored. Carey Price and Braden Holtby were still locked in a duel between two goaltending greats. A scoreless second left us at 1-0 still after 40 minutes. Shots 29-15 Caps.
Holtby’s sparkling effort couldn’t keep Montreal off the board in the third though. Tomas Plekanec converted on a power play opportunity ending Holtby’s shutout streak at 8 periods. The goal would be reviewed for goaltender interference but eventually upheld. Evgeny Kuznetsov then went full video-game deke with his magic hands to put the Caps back on top 2-1 almost immediately after the game was tied. Kuznetsov would leave another heavy mark on the game as he stripped Carey Price of the puck behind the net and fed a charging Brett Connolly to make the game 3-1. Alex Ovechkin would add a late power-play goal to make it 4-1.
Caps beat Canadiens 4-1!
- Alex Ovechkin‘s assists on Backstrom’s first period goal and Kuznetsov’s third period goal gave him 998 NHL points. His own third period power play goal gave him point #999 inching him ever closer to the big #1000. It also tied him with Maurice “Rocket” Richard on the all-time goals list at 544.
- Liam O’Brien made his season debut with the Caps and the early returns are pretty meh. The 4th line was pretty below average in a game that everyone but them and Carlznerson seemingly dominated.
- Nicklas Backstrom is destroying his draft class when it comes to racking up assists.
- The pairing of Karl Alzner and John Carlson faced a volley of opponent shot attempts for like the 9 millionth game in a row. The other two D pairings being absolutely, ridiculously good should be the only reason this pairing is kept together.
- Lars Eller is a Norse possession god. Another fantastic night from the Dane and this one against his former team. He just makes everyone around him better, great offseason pickup.
- Braden Holtby had another outstanding night and is so confident right now that during a second period powerplay came out of his net to play a puck at his blueline.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the prettiest goal of the season so far by the Caps, and it was a huge one that put the Caps back on top quickly after the game was tied. He then created another for Brett Connolly and drew the penalty that led to Ovechkin’s goal. Kuzy is coming to life my friends.
- As previously noted, Holtby’s career long shutout streak was ended by the Canadiens third period strike on the power play. He made it a little over 169 minutes without giving up a goal.
.@CSNCapitals Richard Zednik-Jan Bulis-Craig Laughlin, Brian Engblom-Roman Hamrlik, Jose Theodore pic.twitter.com/fK3y2jz7PL
— RMNB (@russianmachine) January 10, 2017
Joe B suit of the night
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsHabs A blue checker pattern which is 💯 pic.twitter.com/TFd7Ic3JDN
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 10, 2017
Lets face it, the Capitals just completely dominated the Canadiens in every aspect tonight. Great stuff. See you on Wednesday for those pesky ole Pens.
