The first time the Caps and Golden Knights met, it was a miserable night in Vegas just before Christmas in which the road team got shut out. Now, on Superb Owl Sunday, the Caps played much, much better. This was actually a darn fun game, and well played by both teams. That said, the ending sucked just as much as these teams’ first meeting back in December.
Chandler Stephenson, of all people, scored first – a pretty drive that one might not expect out of a 23-year-old. Ryan Carpenter got the Knights on the board with a rush goal against the Ovi line, tying the game at one after one period.
In the second, Matt Niskanen scored on a terrific sequence quarterbacked by Kuznetsov but facilitated by Alex Ovechkin’s net-crash. Vegas responded with a delayed play of their own, as Reilly Smith scored on his third swat at Philipp Grubauer’s net during a Brooks Orpik penalty.
Again in the third the Caps struck first, with Nick Backstrom hitting the back of the net thanks to assists from his countrymen Christian Djoos and Andre Burakovsky. Once again, the Knights came back with Smith recording his second goal of the game, again on the rush. The Knights sort of took over after that, earning a lead with a challenged-but-upheld goal by Alex Tuch.
Knights beat Caps 4-3.
- Chandler Stephenson was rumored to be a scratch for today’s game, but he got a sweater over Alex Chiasson. That choice seems to have paid off. His goal was better than I’d expect out of a marginal player – the only problem is how rare that sort of offense is out of Chandler.
- More love for the depth: How about this save from Jay Beagle?!
LAYS. OUT. #Beaglemania #CapsKnight pic.twitter.com/uMlbmMH4UQ
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 4, 2018
- Jakub Vrana returned from healthy scratch, which surely gave the Caps a speed boost against the spritely Knights. Still, the Caps eventually got exposed, particularly on that second Reilly Smith goal, when Brooks Orpik got danced around by the Marchessault line, who are so good.
- Nate Schmidt had a happy return to DC. Caps fans showered him in cheers and signs during warm-ups (and I heartily urge you to check out our coverage of all that). Schmidt recorded a secondary assist on the Carpenter goal and played a role in getting that rush going. He led the Knights in ice time and dominated play in shot attempts
- Cody Eakin should of got a video montage tribute, am i right or am i rite or amirite
- I loved the Matt Niskanen goal. Kuznetsov showed a great deal of patience (perhaps ignoring a throng of folks shouting “shoot!”) to hit up Niskanen as the late man, who had an open lane thanks to Ovechkin’s glorious thrash through the paint. Perfect hockey, which is maybe why plays like that are so maddeningly hard to replicate.
- Nick Backstrom‘s goal, his second in the last ten games and 11th this season, puts him at 199 in his entire career.
- But after that goal, the Caps earned one shot attempt in nine minutes. So. Yeah.
- Alex Tuch got credit for the go-ahead goal, but Philipp Grubauer‘s glove hand pushed it in. I also wanna add that the Caps seemed to get a bit too conservative after the Backstrom goal (or, conversely, maybe the Knights just upped their intensity – or contrapositively or whatever, and most likely, a little bit of both happened).
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight except really early afternoon pic.twitter.com/w4NpeY4fRf
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) February 4, 2018
Go… Eagles? Patriots? I swear to goodness I do not care one bit. Enjoy your fried food though!
— Omarr Baker (@PRNFamily) February 3, 2018
Photo: Patrick McDermott
