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Streak be gone: Caps beat Flames 4-3

By Chris Cerullo

 5 Comments

February 1, 2019 9:44 pm

The Washington Capitals returned from their lengthy period of time off that saw many head to tropical destinations and they were greeted by the Calgary Flames in snowy, cold Washington, DC. Would the boys be able to halt their seven-game losing skid or is Tom Riddle drawing nearer?

Nic Dowd opened scoring only three minutes into the fixture with a deflection strike that beat Mike Smith. Mikael Backlund would respond for the Flames with a very pretty individual effort to tie things at one apiece. Dmitrij Jaskin did not let that tie last long as his second goal of the season put the Caps back up one before the first intermission horn.

Tom Wilson sniped one home early in the second to give the Caps a two goal lead, before Garnet Hathaway would respond only moments later to cut that lead in half once more. The Caps decided to just watch the Flames tie the game midway through the third.

Evgeny Kuznetsov comes up clutch to end the streak. Thank you, Kuzy.

Caps beat Flames 4-3!

  • First things first, welcome back errybody! Can you believe that we’re already preparing for the final descent this season?
  • I liked the Caps effort in the first period and it felt like Mike Smith bailed the Flames out more than a couple times. Getting out of the first with a lead was a great first step in taking down this standings slide.
  • Dmitrij Jaskin and Nic Dowd really need to stop being the first choice for healthy scratches on the Caps front end.

  • One Patrick Holden summed up my thoughts on tonight’s makeshift top line with his tweet saying, “Anytime you can skate a fringe NHL player with Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie, ya gotta do it”. That trio was easily the Caps worst statistically and I hardly noticed they were even playing. The only Cap on the ice for two five-on-five Calgary goals was young Chandler Stephenson.
  • The second period was another good one from the Caps if you just ignore the fact that they whiffed on three straight power play opportunities. The man advantage didn’t exactly “look” bad, but man its ineffectiveness is absolutely killing this team.
  • The Flames scored in the second period what I think was possibly the 509th quick response goal allowed by the Capitals during this losing streak. The period right after a Caps goal needs to be tightened up very badly.
  • What’d y’all do on your all star game/bye week break? I played a lot of NCAA Football 14 on the PS3. They really need to make those games again.

  • The third period was a period and the only thing that matters is that the Caps won.
  • Some bad news within the forward corps. Lars Eller left the game at the 5:52 mark of the second period and the Caps announced during the second intermission that he would not be returning due to a lower body injury.
  • This was the first game the Caps have played without Alex Ovechkin since April 10, 2016. The NHL levied suspension for skipping the all star game broke Ovi’s longest streak of games played in his career (214).
  • Remember when James Neal missed a wide open net last season against the Caps in the Stanley Cup Final? Good times.
  • Praise, Evgeny.

The Caps captain returns to action with his mates against the Boston Bruins on Sunday for a matinee match up. What better way to get the boys really rolling than playing their regular punching bag in the Bruins?

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Flames

Headline photo: Patrick Smith

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