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Sleepy but successful: Caps beat Blues 4-3 (OT)

By Peter Hassett

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January 7, 2018 6:45 pm

The Washington Capitals hadn’t played a game since January 2, so I’m baffled why they looked exhausted against the St. Louis Blues at home on Sunday afternoon. But even an overwhelmed Caps team still have Ovi on it.

Brett Connolly gave the Caps the lead in the first period with a deflection of Alex Ovechkin’s shot, but the Blues scored twice in the second – once on the power play from Vladimir Tarasenko and another at evens from Steen.

The Caps continued to struggle in the third, but a trip by Jay Bouwmeester led directly to Alex Ovechkin’s 27th goal of the season – an Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot™. That restored the tie, which Lars Eller promptly broke with an excellent goal on transition. A tricky deflection through traffic and credited to Carl Gunnarsson caught Holtby unaware to tie it again with four minutes left. Regulation ended like that. In overtime, Oshie gave Nicklas Backstrom a monster stretch pass, and Backy didn’t squander it.

Caps beat Blues 4-3 in overtime!

  • Seven of the last nine Caps games have gone to overtime. Exasperated sigh.
  • The Caps were very bad at even strength through forty minutes. They went eight and half minutes between their first and second shots on goal in the first period and had just four offensive events of any kind in the first half of the second period. The Blues outright dominated the key matchups, especially Alex Ovechkin vs Pietrangelo/Bouwmeester.
  • But even when the Caps are playing listlessly, they’ve still got Alex Ovechkin on their roster. One lost battle put Bouwmeester in the box in the third period, and three seconds later the puck was in the net. Ovi has 27 goals, snatching the lead back from Nikita Kucherov.
  • Something I didn’t know until today: The Caps have the seventh highest shot-attempt percentage in the NHL when down one goal. Wouldn’t have expected that, but I suppose we saw it manifested in the team’s effort early in the first leading up to the Ovechkin goal.
  • Now, when I say “the Ovechkin goal”, I don’t mean the one Connolly scored as a deflection or the one that Ovi deflected into his own net, I mean the one that Ovechkin scored into the opponent’s net, like one does.
  • This kid is OUT OF CONTROL.

  • Matt Niskanen returned to active duty for the first time since December 30. He was not an exception to the possession beatdown (out-attempted 25 to 18) that was the game’s first two periods, especially against Tarasenko’s line.
  • Andre Burakovsky also returned to active duty in scant shifts with the fourth line. Nothing ever happens on the fourth line. Four shot attempts, one on net.
  • So far this season, Brett Connolly has had a concussion and been the target of Barry Trotz’s ire, but somehow we’re halfway into the campaign and he’s got nine goals, counting tonight’s savvy deflection off Ovi.
  • Evgeny Kuznetsov committed two penalties last game in Raleigh, and he added a hook Sunday at home. I haven’t ever particularly liked Kuzy’s play without the puck, but it seems worse of late.

Well, the Caps haven’t really been knocking me out with their five-on-five play for a couple weeks now, but it’s hard to argue with the standings. Still, I’d be a happier consumer of their hockey entertainment product if they weren’t, ya know, sloppy as hell.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Blues

Headline photo: Patrick McDermott

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