This was way better than the last time the Capitals faced off against the New Jersey Devils.
The game kicked off with some great pressure from the Capitals and a goal from Carl Hagelin. Sadly, the goal was called back after an offsides review. The time of when the game actually began will be debated, but I think it started after Miles Wood decided to mess with Alex Ovechkin and give him a high stick to the mouth. The call was missed by the referees, but after the Caps eventually went 5-on-3, Ovi was quick to put two goals in the back of the net with two assists from Nick Backstrom. Don’t mess with the best. Second period opened with a revenge goal from Carl Hagelin, which was quickly answered by Wayne Simmonds. As for the third period, the Devils scored a shorthanded goal, but that wouldn’t be enough. Jakub Vrana registered his 21st goal of the season and Alex Ovechkin sealed the night with his third goal.
CAPS WIN!
- Carl giveth, Carl taketh away. Carl Hagelin scored the first goal of the game, but it was sadly called back after the Devils challenged that it was offsides. This would’ve been Hagelin’ second goal of the season, which was oddly surprising to me? Not sure. Luckily, he got his goal back 16 seconds into the second period to bring the Capitals up 3-0.
- Let’s have a quick couple little bullet points for Alex Ovechkin only. His second goal of the evening was his 30th! This makes Ovi the second NHL player to ever score 30+ goals in each of his first 15 seasons. The other player? Mike Gartner.
- Alex Ovechkin finished the game with his 25th career hat trick, tying Cy Denneny for ninth on the NHL’s all-time hat trick list. It’s his second hat trick of the season, his fourth straight season with at least two hat tricks.
- In case you didn’t get a chance to see Alex Ovechkin‘s bloody face courtesy of Miles Wood. We have you covered. Ovi was pretty mad.
Look, I know there are a lot of great players and it’s hard to compare legends between generations, but Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goalscorer of all-time in my book.
Especially when he’s angry. 😡
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 17, 2020
- We’ve talked a lot about the power play recently. The Capitals have scored a power play goal in each of their last three games. But, on the other end of the stick, the Capitals have given up 5 shorthanded goals in the last 11 games.
- John Carlson is close to passing Calle Johansson for the most assists by a defenseman in franchise history. He’s only five assists away after registering an assist on an Ovechkin goal during the game. Kiiinda wish he looked a little better this evening.
- The Devils switched goalies before the start of the second period. Louis Domingue didn’t return due to a lower-body injury. Cory Schneider came in to the game and kept it close. But, while we are on the subject of goalies, Ilya Samsonov looked great! After the Devils scored their first goal, Sammy’s streak without allowing a goal ended at 135:08 minutes over three games. He stopped 55 consecutive shots.
- Shots weren’t looking too shabby tonight:
Tonight marks the second time this season the Capitals have recorded 30 shots within the first two periods of a game (Nov. 16 vs. Boston). Their season high for shots in a game is 44, also against Boston.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 17, 2020
- Do yourself a favor and watch this clip of TJ Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Brendan Leipsic, and Radko Gudas doing synchronized hops before the start of third period.
- During the TSN pregame show, a bulldog walked onto stage. Dogs make everything better, it’s a fact.
- You can’t deny the beautiful style of Braden Holtby.
Plum checkers 🍆#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsDevils pic.twitter.com/g6i9vTE0fy
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) January 17, 2020
The Caps look good, Ovi looks good, you look good, we all look good. We’ll see you on Saturday for an afternoon match-up in New York against the Islanders.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Devils
Headline image: NBCS Washington
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