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Third line magic: Caps beat Isles 4-3

By Patrick Holden

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November 2, 2017 9:34 pm

A 7 pm start? A 7 pm start! The Isles came to town to visit the Caps on Thursday to kick off an extended one-game homestand for the team in red.

Taylor Chorney threw a puck on net through traffic that found its way behind Halak to put the Caps up 1-0 early. But the Caps coughed up that lead later in the first, as John Tavares scored on the power play. Before the first was over, Chandler Stephenson picked up his second primary assist of the night (and second of his career) as Lars Eller scored to put the Caps up 2-1.

You’ll never believe this, but the Isles tied the game late in the second on a power play goal. However, Alex “The Answer” Chiasson answered about 0.0003 seconds later to put the Caps back on top, 3-2.

Braden Holtby did his best to maintain the lead while his teammates did nothing, but Anders Lee eventually tied the game seven minutes into the third. But the Caps have Lars Eller and the Isles don’t. The third line center put the Caps up 4-3 with just over three minutes to go in the game on the Caps second shot on goal of the period.

Caps beat Isles 4-3!

  • Chandler Stephenson picked up the first two assists of his career in the first period, and the second one was particularly nice.

  • Madison Bowey’s play on the Caps second goal shouldn’t go unnoticed either. With Lars Eller stalled in the neutral zone, he jumped into the play to open up a passing option. Eller hit him with a pass and Bowey dished to Stephenson after gaining the zone. Bowey continued to drive to the net. The Isles had to account for this and it helped open up the lane for Stephenson to feed Eller.
  • Have we had enough of Devante Smith-Pelly in the top six? He just doesn’t seem to have the hands or anticipation to deal with the sauce Evgeny Kuznetsov dishes out. At the same time, it’s not like anyone is beating down the door to play on the line.
  • The Caps are taking too many penalties and the penalty kill has struggled this season. Not a good combination.

  • Eller had two points in the first period and his entire line kept up the strong play into the next frame. Then he got called for holding on a weak call. Number 20 responded by drawing a penalty just after coming out of the box. Oh, and then he put the Caps up 4-3 late in the third. A strong game for Lars again.
  • Maybe it’s the heavy minutes catching up to him, but Brooks Orpik has looked particularly bad the last few games. It’s hard to blame Orpik too much for this since the team is asking way too much of the 37-year-old.
  • One guy that hasn’t looked particularly bad is Braden Holtby. The Caps netminder looked especially good early in the second and third but wasn’t able to singlehandedly maintain either lead.
  • Remember that Jason Chimera guy, he of the greatest snipe in Caps history? He was back in town tonight and was up to Chimera things

Chorney-Koken shot of the night

Full Coverage of Caps vs Islanders

Headline image: Rob Carr

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