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Road trip starts right: Caps beat Hawks 5-3

By Peter Hassett

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October 20, 2019 9:38 pm

The Washington Capitals didn’t put together their best effort to start their season-long road trip, but it was still enough to beat the Chicago Blackhawks.

TJ Oshie continued his hot streak, quickly converting a first period power play. After getting rebuffed by Braden Holtby for 25 or so shots., the Hawks finally beat him off Drake Caggiula’s stick. Nic Dowd got a shorthanded goal a few minutes later thanks to some smooth moves from Carl Hagelin.

The Caps killed more penalties in the third period and extended their lead with an Alex Ovechkin one-timer set up by John Carlson, but that lead didn’t last. Dominik Kubalik made it a one-goal game by finishing off a long scramble in the crease, and then Hawks tied it with 10 minutes remaining in regulation.

But Tom Wilson restored Washington’s lead a few minutes later with a backdoor one-touch assisted by Carl Hagelin. Lars Eller added an empty-netter, and that was that.

Caps win 5-3!

  • Nic Dowd had a great outing, recording his first career shorthanded goal and playing on an excellent penalty-kill unit.
  • That PK was busy, especially when my incorrigible son, Chandler Stephenson, served double time for high sticking. The Caps held the Hawks to a single shot on that power play.
  • Still, overall poor Braden Holtby saw way too much action. Holtby turned away 28 of 29 shots in just the first 40 minutes. The Caps had been really good at controlling play and limiting chances so far, but this game was a big step back.
  • Can we take a short moment to appreciate this plentiful and diverse cornucopia of lewks?

  • For all the trouble that Washington’s top six seemed to have, it’s both encouraging and curious that Tom Wilson’s line was able to pull off a lovely play like this to get the game-winner.

  • Hmm, how about that.
  • I’m not an Andrew Shaw fan, so I was delighted when he committed an early stick penalty a full 190 feet from his own net.
  • Tension really spilled over late in this one — but from a curious place: Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov, two soft’n’cuddly Russian boys, were right at the heart of the donnybrook there. Wish that we had a hot mic there.
  • So we’re all on the same page that Radko Gudas is a new fan favorite, in spite of his entire career prior to this season?

I didn’t like Washington’s play in this one much at all. They kept Braden Holtby way too busy for my liking, and the top line got pretty much caved in during even strength. About half of Washington’s skaters were under 40-percent on-ice expected goals during five-on-five play.

But they scored more, so I’m not going to complain about an action-packed regulation win to kick off a long road trip. See ya Tuesday in Calgary!

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Blackhawks

Headline photo: Bill Smith

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