The Caps handled the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, recording a badly needed win and welcoming home a beloved fan fave.
TJ Oshie forced a turnover then scored on a rebound to open scoring in the first period. The second went scoreless, which is the word we use when no one scores even if the game has a score, which obviously it did, it was 1-0 Caps. Brett Connolly crashed the net in the third period to get his first goal in 13 games, but Markus Granlund replied by catching a nice pass from Antoine Roussel to get the Canucks on the board a couple minutes later. Jakub Vrana put the Nucks back in their two-goal hole with a weird, weird goal. Elias Pettersson got a goal with the Nucks net empty, but it was over.
Caps win 3-2!
- Collecting an assist on the Oshie goal, Alex Ovechkin becomes the highest scoring Russian in NHL history with 1,180 points. Don’t get too excited though; some of those were secondary assists and empty netters. I dunno, I’m just guessing what some Canadian grumps will say.
- Speaking of TJ Oshie, he played like a man possessed: huge hits, big goals, tenacious forechecking. Great performance as he gets his 16th goal of the season.
- And then there’s Evgeny Kuznetsov, who, one game after a scolding from his couch, committed another penalty. Not to be outdone, oft-penalized Michal Kempny followed up with one of his own. The discipline problems are not behind us yet.
- Later, Kuznetsov swatted at a high puck but whiffed as it fell behind Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom and into the net. That’s fortunate for Kuznetsov — if he had touched it, the goal would not have counted because of the high stick. Instead, Jakub Vrana got credit.
- Jonas Siegenthaler had a bad game. He hooked Bo Horvat to set up an unsuccessful penalty shot (kind of a weak call tho), and he misplayed the puck at the blue line to snuff Holtby’s shutout bid.
- The Hurricanes whipped the Penguins tonight. That plus Washington’s win means two things: the Caps own second in the division, and look out for the Canes. They’re coming.
#JoeBSuitOftheNight #CapsNucks Purple tie for Beagle Night pic.twitter.com/fBu0xW13B9
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) February 6, 2019
The Caps won but the bigger story was this: Stanley Cup champion Jay Beagle returned to Washington, bathed in the adoration of thousands of fans. For 471 games and 85 more in the postseason, Beagle was the rock upon which the Caps stood. A faceoff whiz with underrated scoring skills and an undeniable work ethic, Beagle earned his role of honor as a fan favorite. And he’ll keep that role until the last of us is gone. One last time:
See you here on Thursday as the Caps try to do the unthinkable: win two games in a row.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Canucks
Headline photo: Patrick McDermott
