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Orlov in overtime: Caps beat Devils 2-1

By Peter Hassett

 5 Comments

April 2, 2021 9:36 pm

One day after a brutal loss, the Washington Capitals regrouped to play a solid if unspectacular hour and change against the New Jersey Devils.

After a scoreless first period, John Carlson used some screens to beat Mackenzie Blackwood. Michael McLeod returned fire with a rush goal and a tasty rebound to beat Vitek Vanecek. The third period changed the score not at all, so we went to overtime.

Overtime was actually fun, capped off by a gorgeous finish by Dmitry Orlov.

Caps win!

  • In an interview during the second intermission, Lars Eller said the Caps were trying to focus on “attention to detail” in their second of two games in two days. The Caps accomplished that. This was a buttoned-up, no-frills affair until three-on-three overtime.
  • Oh, and also except for when Vitek Vanecek faced a rare (for this game, at least) breakaway and gifted Michael McLeod a gem a rebound.
  • John Carlson scored two goals in Thursday’s game, which we don’t talk about anymore. He added one more in Jersey on Friday night. He’s now just five goals off his career high (15).
  • Kind of a snoozer through rego. Let’s go off-topic. My mom makes ham on Easter. Ham’s fine when it’s on a sammy or something, betwixt some cheese and other cured meats, but as the centerpiece of a meal? Ew, no, thank you. And I love that fancy mustard with the little mustard particles like little spicy room-temperature Dippin’ Dots, but apparently my gut flora no longer agrees with that preference. Bad food holiday.
  • Jakub Vrana was a healthy scratch so that Richard Panik could make his return. (But maybe more so that Vrana could have a learning moment or something.) Panik played 10:15, which is a very Vrana-y amount of ice.
  • Evgeny Kuznetsov is still not getting a lot of defensive zone starts. That’s what a coach does when you don’t trust a player but you also can’t really healthy-scratch him either.
  • As if to mirror our fragile collective Caps-fan psyches, all the sticks fell to pieces at the slightest breeze.

I guess I’m fine with this. It wasn’t a compelling game until overtime. Low on highlights. No one nicknamed Beans anywhere to be found. The coaches’ blood pressures were probably within a healthy range. This was competent hockey, just a bit snoozy. After the disaster on Long Island on Thursday, I suppose that’s fine.

The Caps will spend the weekend in Newark area, lucky them, as they’ve got another date with the Devils on Easter Sunday.

RMNB Coverage of Caps at Devils

Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports Washington

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