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Holiday comeback: Caps beat Bolts 4-3 (OT)

By Peter Hassett

 6 Comments

November 29, 2019 7:48 pm

The Washington Capitals shook off the Thanksgiving hangover and treated us to a delightful afternoon game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Brayden Point sunk a power-play goal to give Tampa an early lead, which Mikhail Sergachev doubled up in the second period. Evgeny Kuznetsov got the Caps on the board with a powerful drive to the net, but Alex Killorn answered before the second intermission.

Jakub Vrana brought the Caps within one goal four minutes into the third period with a sneaky goal. Then, with an Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot, Alex Ovechkin tied the game, forcing overtime for the three hundredth time this season. (Okay, the 12th.)

Orlov completed the comeback in OT for a big holiday W.

Caps win 4-3!

Just sharing a pic of Black Phillip for your Black Friday.

  • I don’t know what’s been on the Capital One Arena schedule since the team’s last game there, approximately in the mid 80s, but the home ice was not good. The Caps depend on a lot of finesse to succeed, but the conditions weren’t helpful. Crummy ice stifled all the delicate stick work and high-danger passes that the Caps love to do, and that undermined their ability to finish.
  • That said, the Caps drove play pretty well, especially in the first period, when they out-attempted the Bolts 28-12. It was just in those last 20 feet or so where they had trouble getting things going. The Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson line in particular a non-entity.
  • Evgeny Kuznetsov is just endlessly entertaining. His determination to drive to the net on his power-play goal was nice, but his sass with Yanni Gourde was even better. Yeah, I suppose we would have preferred that Kuzy not get suckered into a penalty, but I have a bias towards interesting stuff happening even if it isn’t good for our preferred hockey team.

Please do check out our gift guide so you can find some good good deals and also so we can afford healthcare.

  • Garnet Hathaway returned to active play for the first time since his suspension. He did literally nothing interesting in the game to merit having a bullet about him, but I’ve already written this, and I’m not gonna delete it now.

  • Jakub Vrana‘s goal got stuck in the back of the net such that it was really hard to notice it had even gone in. Vasilevskiy, Vrana, and even Joe Beninati didn’t seem to register that it even happened for quite a while.
  • Pat Sajak has had some health issues lately, but we’re all very glad to see him rocking the red at the game today.
  • Alex Ovechkin‘s good. I dunno. I’m groggy. Like, he’s the best goal-scorer in the history of the planet and he saved this game, but I took a nap before the game, so I’m writing this on like 30 percent brain power. He does this all the time. You write something novel about him doing something amazing for the trillionth time, if you’re so smart, smart guy.
  • I’m sorry. I’m cranky when I’m tired. Anyway, Ovi’s still on pace for 50 goals. No one Ovi’s age has hit 50 goals since 1971, when teams scored like thirty goals per game and Boston’s John Bucyk scored 51.

Fun game, but there’s no time to appreciate it. The Caps head now to Detroit, where they’ll finish off November against the Red Wings. See you there. Enjoy your leftovers.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Lightning

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