The Washington Capitals had a terrible start to Tuesday game against the Winnipeg Jets, surrendering two goals in 2:20. But the Caps clawed back, and against all odds played a darn fun game to watch.
Like I said, the Jets struck early. Kyle Connor sunk a rebound on a power play, then Cole Perfetti scored his first NHL goal with a lovely rush attack. Alex Ovechkin took a great pass from Garnet Hathaway to make it 2-1 after one period. The Caps closed the gap with a well-screened goal by Dmitry Orlov in the second period, then they took the lead off an improbable wraparound goal by Aliaksei Protas.
With one minute left and an empty net, the Jets tied it off a danger-close shot by Pierre-Luc DuBois. In overtime — get this — Tom Wilson scored!
Caps win 4-3 in overtime! Washington’s first OT win of the season!
- I would understand if some folks turned this game off in its first few minutes. The Caps committed a penalty in the first minute then got punished off a gaping rebound. Hardly a minute later they let a rookie score his first NHL goal. And yet…
- This game ended up being a lot of fun! Maybe it was because the ice was bad (it was terrible), but there was a lot of end-to-end action without too much defensive competence, meaning goalies Vitek Vanecek and Connor Hellebuyck saw lots of action and had to make some big saves.
- With *checks notes* everyone injured, Garnet Hathaway got tapped to play on the top line with Alex Ovechkin. There he made one very good pass to, well, let’s make that its own bullet.
- At age 42 or something, Alex Ovechkin is again the NHL’s goal-scoring leader. He’s on pace for 55 goals. I have to stress: he’s 57 years old. No one scores that many goals at his age, which, again, he’s 63 years old. This is unprecedented.
- Connor McMichael‘s screen was instrumental in getting Dmitry Orlov’s long bomb to back of the net. I guess Peter Laviolette hated it. McMichael hardly saw the ice in the third period. Just over FIVE minutes of ice time. I wonder if he’d play more if had different linemates available; I sure would love to see what a healthy lineup would look like.
The ol’ wraparound off the skate pic.twitter.com/mDufCmi4Op
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 19, 2022
- Above is Aliaksei Protas’ goal. I think the last touch on it was ex-Caps player Nate Schmidt. He was not smiling after that play.
- Nic Dowd has been on a bit of a penalty jag lately. It’s gotta stop.
[deranged screaming from rooftop] PLUM! @JoeBpXp #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/B5c6dNOBz5
— good_tweet_pete.eth (@peterhassett) January 19, 2022
The Caps play basically every other night until the all-star break. Their roster is a mess, and they’ve been uneven these last couple weeks, but every team in this league has some kind of excuse. Let’s see what they can do.
Headline photo: @Cracus09
