The Washington Capitals continued their winning ways on Tuesday night by taking down the Calgary Flames 5-3 in Calgary. This was the fourth straight regulation win for the good guys.
The Flames out-shot the Caps 35 to 30 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 48 to 41.
- This was a sloppy, almost sleeper of a game that the Caps held a lead in from the opening moments of the second period on. The numbers will look a little skewy because of score effects and the sort, but I was overall happy with the game the Caps played. The third period especially (outside of the laziness that led to the Flames very late third goal) was nice to see as the Caps shutdown any and all Calgary comeback attempts.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his seventh goal of the season, tying TJ Oshie for the team lead. Ovi now is riding an eight game point streak (career high set last year at 14 games) and is only four goals shy of passing Luc Robitaille for the 12th most goals in league history.
- Receiving an assist on that goal was Nicklas Backstrom, which moved him into sole possession of fifth most assists in league history from a Swedish player. Only Daniel Alfredsson, Mats Sundin, Henrik Sedin, and Nicklas Lidstrom are in front of him now.
He is third different defenseman in NHL history to lead the League in scoring outright through the first 20 days of the season. The others:
Baldy Northcott (1932-33 w/ MMR)
Bobby Orr (1969-70 and 1974-75 w/ BOS). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/ketIfI2emA— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) October 23, 2019
- Tom Wilson also got on the board with his fourth goal of the season, the 150th point of his NHL career. Good to see Willy still producing points even away from the big guns he usually plays with.
- Braden Holtby has now won three starts in a row. In those starts he has a 2.33 goals against average and a 92.5-percent save percentage. Getting into a groove now.
- Oshie also recorded an assist, extending his point streak to five games. Michal Kempny received an apple as well, giving him a point in each game he’s played in this season.
- You all know that John Carlson is still fantastically leading the league in points, but I want to highlight what I thought was another great game from Dmitry Orlov. The Caps at five-on-five held 52.5-percent of the shot attempts, 60-percent of the scoring chances, and 66.7-percent of the high danger chances with Dima on the ice. Dude has had a hell of a start to the season.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Flames
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
