Ah, the loffs. My old friend. We only see each other but once a year, and by the time he leaves me my apartment’s a mess, my body is a dumpster, and my mind is on the very edge of insanity. I love my friend, the loffs, so hard.

Game One between the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes was, um, everything. There was violence, then an explosion of goals, then a tense detente, then a defensive collapse, and oh god are we going to do this all the way into June again?

So here’s how it went. The Caps got stymied for ten minutes, but Nicklas Backstrom broke through right after that, besting Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek on the second shot of the night. Backstrom struck again with a power-play layup assisted by Evgeny Kuznetsov, then Alex Ovechkin added a power-play goal of his own before the first intermission.

After a scoreless second period, rookie Andrei Svechnikov changed the game with two goals to snap the shutout and then make it a one-goal game. For a long while it was agonizingly tight, and then Lars Eller secured the empty-netter to put this one in the books.

Caps win 4-2! Caps lead the series 1-0.

• The series began with a ton of hits and almost no offense. It sure seems to me like Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour wanted to send a message early in the game with physicality. Maybe we can debate the effectiveness of that in comments. Either way, the Caps went nine and a half minutes without a shot on goal, and then…
• Nicklas Backstrom arrived. Backstrom got two goals in the first period, both the result of excellent play-reading. For the first goal he made the zone entry by himself and called his own shot. For the second he crashed the net to catch a smart back-door pass from Kuznetsov on the power play. If the Caps need star power to succeed in the loffs, well, here ya go.
• Oh, and Alex Ovechkin. He’s here too. He scored, converting the third of three shots on a first-period power play, quickly closing distance to the net and dumping Tom Wilson in the process. For a power-play goal not from the Ovi Spot, it was still signature Ovechkin: messy and beautiful all at once.
• John Carlson got a hat trick of assists in the first period, which I think we should call the apple cart instead of the assist hat trick, but that’ll never catch on. I also think we should abolish secondary assists, so no one listens to me.
• If I were writing macro strategy against the Caps, I’d say avoid penalties at all cost. And yet, Carolina put Washington a man up four times in the first forty minutes, costing the Canes two goals. I wonder (and worry) if there will be an evening out of the opportunities. JK. I  wrote that last sentence before TJ Oshie high-sticked with three and a half minutes left in regulation. Of course the penalties evened out.
• Andrei Svechnikov is 18 years old. He scored 20 goals in his rookie season. He makes Carolina’s third line dangerous, and he broke this game open in the third period. This series was never gonna be a walk. Look out for this guy.
• Early in the second period, Andre Burakovsky goofed on a line change and put the Caps on the penalty kill for having too many men on the ice. Whether the result of that or something else (e.g. strict line-matching), Todd Reirden was curiously frugal with his forward depth and ice time. I get it.
• I really liked Washington’s conservative play in the second period, but the Canes tweaked their top scoring lines in the third, and the push was relentless after that. The Caps simply cannot bank on getting an early lead then playing prevent defense until the buzzer. The Caps’ counterpunch has to be a consistent threat, or else Brind’Amour will be able to send four or five skaters deep into the zone on every attack.

#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsCanes Game 1. That Caps pocketsquare. pic.twitter.com/LpZH28GVFB

— Ian Oland (@ianoland) April 11, 2019

A personal note: I spent all day Thursday in bed under doctor’s orders due to exhaustion. I had a restful day. I felt good. I stayed hydrated. And then this game happened. And it’s like my flu had the flu. I lost years off my life tonight. And I’m so glad I did.

We’re back, y’all. Let’s dance. See you Saturday.

Full RMNB Coverage of Game One

Headline photo: Rob Carr