The Washington Capitals did not give their best effort for most of Tuesday’s home game against the Los Angeles Kings. But they didn’t have to. This team can coast through fifty minutes and then simply wait for Alex Ovechkin to do what he does best.
The Kings took a lead in the first period with a rush goal by Jeff Carter. John Carlson tied it up with a tricky wristshot from high in the slot in the second period. Carter got his second of the night halfway into the final period, a tip from up close. It looked grim for a moment, but that’s when Alex Ovechkin got going. On consecutive shifts he tied the game up, then got his own rebound to put the Caps in the lead, then got the empty-netter for the natural hat trick.
Hahaha.
Caps win!
- One element that the Capitals overlooked that in hindsight for the vast majority of this game I think might have been helpful in their quest to play a good game of hockey was offense and general shooting of the puck at the bad goalie’s net. Just one writer’s opinion.
- Martin Fehervary played Caps hockey for the first time since October, slotting in for Jonas Siegenthaler as the Caps do some talent evaluation prior to the trade deadline. Say it with me: It’s totally fine to scratch any player for a game here or there, even if the player scratched is a young stud like Jonas.
- For his part, Fehervary was fine.
- I don’t know who was supposed to start, but when Alex Ovechkin injured Ilya Samsonov at morning skate the matter was sorta settled automatically. Sammy is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, presumably a concussion.
- In his stead, Braden Holtby was wonderful — because he had to be. After a sequence of stunning saves in the second, Holtby was given some grateful chants from the appreciative crowd. After a punishing season, that was a delightful relief.
- Alex Ovechkin‘s stat line was very quiet. Until he scored his 38th and 39th and 40th goals of the season. Before that he had just one missed shot. For a volume shooter, he sure was efficient. Hahaha.
- John Carlson has been racking up points but had somehow gone without a goal from December 20 until today. It’s really hard to say interesting stuff about John Carlson. There’s just not a lot of there there. I’m like 90 percent sure if we ever talked about anything, the conversation would turn to his favorite Netflix series in like 45 seconds, and it’d probably The Ranch or something.
It's a navy night for the #JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsKings pic.twitter.com/Yf7CUxdcgV
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) February 5, 2020
What a stupid, stupid game. This game was punishingly boring exactly up until the point that Alex Ovechkin decided it should be moar fun. I really don’t want any more Caps games like this, but I have to admit this was pretty funny. See ya this weekend.
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