Happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating today on this lovely Sunday afternoon while the Capitals hosted the Anaheim Ducks at Capital One Arena. Honestly, I was anticipating kind of a snoozefest…but it was definitely not.
Alex Ovechkin only needed 41 seconds to connect to his partner-in-crime, Mr. Nick Backstrom to kick off the scoring. Six minutes later, Chandler Stephenson brought the team up 2-0. The goal ended Stephenson’s 20-game goal drought. After a Ryan Getzlaf shot to put the Ducks on the board, the Capitals snagged one final goal during a power play to raise the score to 3-1. The goal was scored by none other than Tom Wilson, making this his eighth goal in ten games. What the hell is going on.
Second period brought two goals from both sides. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first even strength goal of the season and Nic Dowd brought the score up 5-1. After a bit of a lull in the Capitals play, the Ducks were able to capitalize (no pun intended) on those chances and scored two quick goals. The Capitals headed into the third period leading on the board 5-3, but losing on scoring chances 12-11.
The third period gave us some good ol’ fashioned whiplash going from power play to penalty kill. The Ducks got a power play, the Capitals got a power play, the Ducks got a power play, and finally the Ducks were able to put the puck behind Holtby. Dmitry Orlov was called for a boarding penalty and the Ducks were able to do the thing again, bringing the final tally to 5-5. Another Ducks goal with five minutes remaining. All good winning streaks must come to an end.
Caps lose 6-5.
- The scoring began only 41 seconds into the first period with an Alex Ovechkin assist for a Nicklas Backstrom goal. This is Backstrom’s fourth goal in the last two games.
- The secondary assist on the first goal was given to John Carlson, who passed Mike Green to become #5 on the list for most points by a defenseman in Caps history. This was Carlson’s 361st point.
- A weird goal from Chandler Stephenson finally ended his 20-game goal drought!
- The assist on Stephenson’s goal? Of course, it was our sweet/swede angel Nicklas Backstrom. This brought him to the 4th all-time on the Capitals goal scoring list, passing Mike Ridley, with 219 goals.
- Braden Holtby should always be celebrated, but this afternoon he passed a milestone. Holtby recorded his 10,000th career save during the first period. He became the second goaltender in franchise history to do this, Olaf Kolzig was the other.
- Hi Ian!!!
Rode the zambo. Can confirm the Stanley Cup champions banner looks amazing from down here! CC: @Steve_Dangle pic.twitter.com/2clJw1SCr6
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) December 2, 2018
- Tom Wilson is out here still being….I’m not sure???
Let’s check in on Tom Wilson:
He’s got eight goals and six assists in 10 games.
He scored his eighth goal in his 53rd game last season.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 2, 2018
- Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his first even strength goal of the season. You read that correctly. His first six goals were scored on the power play, so this was his first even strength goal.
- Dmitry Orlov was less than grand today, getting two boarding called in the third period. The Ducks scored on both of these power plays to tie the game.
- The Capitals didn’t look great, but guess who did:
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight aaaaaand the Caps have already scored pic.twitter.com/4GpC9eJySw
— Good Tweet Pete 🌮 (@peterhassett) December 2, 2018
We will catch you on Tuesday for a 10PM matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. Yes, 10PM. It’s time for some more #RMNBAfterDark. Let’s get that Presidents’ Trophy.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Ducks
Headline image: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
