The recently uneven Washington Capitals traveled to Minnesota to take on a Wild team that has benefited from a new coach bounce with a 5-2 record under new head boss Dean Evason. Could the Caps tame the Wild and get back on track?
Ryan Donato was sprung on a breakaway and banked the puck in off Braden Holtby to open scoring. Then the Caps would pounce big time. Alex Ovechkin, Richard Panik, and Ovi again would all strike within a 3:38 span in the first. Kevin Fiala responded quickly with a power play one time bomb.
Tom Wilson kicked off the third period by finishing a perfect Ovechkin feed. Zach Parise jammed one home on the power play.
Caps beat Wild 4-3!
- The Caps had a few stretches of five-on-five play in the first period that was a total mess and then a few stretches that were the exact opposite. This team is literally Jekyll and Hyde from minute to minute sometimes and it’s incredibly frustrating.
- The “penalty” call that led to the Wild’s second goal was an utter joke and I felt I needed to take an entire bullet to let everyone know. Fiala got tapped on the wrist, threw his stick to the ice, and got the “slashing” call. He likely only got it because the Caps had been on a recent five-on-three and I despise that type of NHL officiating.
- We saw the first voyage of an Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Kovalchuk line. They put the puck in the back of the net with a nifty passing play in their first ever shift.
IT’S HOCKEY O’CLOCK! #ALLCAPS #CAPSwild #LETSGOCAPS #SaffyBeamGAMEFACE #10thSeason #CapsBulldog #CapitalsBulldog pic.twitter.com/rQiU5Q694B
— Ovie the Bulldog (@OvietheBulldog) March 2, 2020
- Caps were the better team in the second and it really felt like they settled into the game. Good penalty kill work after giving up a power play goal against in the first. Couple more curious refereeing decisions against the Caps. Felt like they were owed one at the end of the frame.
- Carl Hagelin has probably been the most consistent Caps player since the all star break other than maybe the center of his line. That third line seems like it has magic in it every night no matter who is lined up on the right side next to Hags and Lars Eller.
- Anyone else really dislike Marcus Foligno?
- Man, I feel like Ilya Kovalchuk has been damn good so far in a Caps jersey. He grabbed his first point for the franchise tonight and just is generally making the right decision with the puck every time he has it. Brings a certain lethality to the Caps bottom six forwards that teams have to gameplan for.
- The third was very sloppy for both teams in neutral, but the Caps individual offensive talent created more chances off the sloppiness than the Wild did. I liked the five-on-five effort overall in this game, which I did not think I would be saying after the first half of the first period.
- Not Michal Kempny‘s best night. Got burned for the first goal against and made the strange decision to just tackle a Wild skater in the third when he had help back, giving them the power play that led to their third goal.
- Wow, was with a confusingly chippy game. Wonder if any of this carries over into the later matchup in DC between these two teams. I’m not one to jump down official’s back, but man they were garbage from a Caps POV. Basically just ignored any Minnesota infractions in the third.
No Joe B, but we have the Dowd fam being awesome again.
Come join us for a skate! #DowdsCrowd pic.twitter.com/voiQQeaW2N
— Paige Dowd (@paigemdowd) March 2, 2020
Next for the Caps is the surging Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in a game that believe it or not will heavily factor in regards to the eventual winner of the Metro Division.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Wild
Headline photo: NBCSN
