The Caps played a tight, nearly mistake-free hour of solid hockey to down the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Tuesday night.
TJ Oshie started by scoring his 23rd goal of the season, taking a pass from Kuznetsov in the first period. In the second period, Dougie Hamilton evened the score with a slapshot from the blue line during a delayed penalty six-on-five.
Alex Ovechkin restored the Caps’ lead with a one-timer from the high slot to earn his 49th goal of the season. John Carlson chipped Dmitry Orlov’s slap pass to make it 3-1. Nicky Backstrom got the empty-netter (to deprive Ovechkin of getting 50).
Caps win 4-1!
- Despite the win, Washington fails to secure a playoff appearance based on the likely results of the Aperture Laboratories out-of-town Scoreboard: Jackets over Isles, Canadiens over Panthers. Bummer, but we’ll get there very soon.
- Alex Ovechkin sits one goal shy of having his eighth fifty-goal season. It’s been a brutal, miserable, harrowing 10 ten days since he last scored, but we need not ever discuss those dark days anymore.
- Not a lot else happened in this game, so I made a sloppy photoshop of TJ Oshie looking like Spock.
look at this spock looking mfer right here pic.twitter.com/uYurL9zI4p
— Good Tweet Pete 🌮 (@peterhassett) March 26, 2019
- Don’t get me wrong though: while this wasn’t an exciting game, it was a well-played one. The Canes owned play early, but the Caps clawed back in the second period. Once the Canes got their delayed-penalty goal, it was a tight affair without a ton of mistakes on either side until the Caps got a two-goal lead. Put another way: these are two good hockey teams gearing up for the postseason. I’m ready.
- I’m expecting and fearing a Caps-Canes series in the playoffs, so I was watching matchups closely in this game. Nicklas Backstrom saw a ton of Teuvo Teravainen, and it was not pretty. Same story for Evgeny Kuznetsov and Sebastian Aho. But lower in the lineup, Lars Eller’s line securely dominated Lucus Wallmark’s line. I’m not sure those are the best choices to counter Carolina should there be a seven-game series.
That's 3 assists for @Kuzya92 on his #KuzyBobble night btw… #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/d1PWhWvOdv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 27, 2019
- Evgeny Kuznetsov earned three assists on the night, though two were secondary assists, and I think those are silly, and he sorta got whipped during five-on-five play overall. But, hey, he got a bobblehead, so he gets a bullet too. Shrug.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #JerkBowl pic.twitter.com/Sra07l2wGu
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 26, 2019
I like the idea of back-to-back games against the Canes. Let’s see how these teams adjust, what they think about how tonight went down. There’s a decent chance we’re gonna get very very acquainted with these jerks in a few weeks. Bring it on.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Canes
Headline photo: Patrick McDermott
