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The raining apples game: Caps beat Devils 4-3 🍎

By Peter Hassett

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March 26, 2022 9:47 pm

The Washington Capitals (mature but tired) narrowly defeated the New Jersey Devils (spry and rested) on home ice on Saturday night. An otherwise mundane game was elevated to classic status thanks to a game-winning pivotal goal from the man of the night, Nicklas Backstrom, and the apple-raining celebration that followed.

After a scoreless first period in which the score was 0-0 despite me calling it scoreless, Jack Hughes scored early in the second period, a dart just under the crossbar. Tom Wilson tied it up after a nice setup pass from Conor Sheary, but Damon Severson threaded the needle for a controversial go-ahead goal before the second intermission.

On a delayed penalty early in the third period, Connor McMichael recorded his ninth goal of the season, a layup after a lovely passing sequence. The man of the night, Nicky Backstrom, wristed the go-ahead goal in the third period, triggering an apple-toss bonanza. Alex Ovechkin added an interesting power-play goal for his 42nd. The Devils got one back in garbage time, but Washington held on for the win.

Caps win 4-3.

  • The Caps played on Friday night, and boy did it show. New Jersey looked like a good team, which I don’t think they are? But they probably will be soon. The Devils dominated five-on-five play (The Boqvist was at like 75 percent of shot attempts last I checked), though Washington managed to engineer some odd-man rushes that made things feel closer than they were.
  • Washington’s best play of the game was the six-on-five sequence that led to Connor McMichael‘s goal. This is a great time for him to distinguish himself, as there will be a lot lineup competition in coming days and weeks.
  • TJ Oshie played for the first time since March 17. I think (I hope) the team was easing him back into duty —  he didn’t play much relative to his normal linemates.

  • In a pregame ceremony, the team recognized Nicklas Backstrom for 1000 career points. My favorite Backstrom game isn’t among those 1000 points though– it was April 17, 2010, when Backstrom scored four goals on Montreal. I forget how the rest of that series went.
  • Backstrom’s goal — an unlikely wrister under pressure to the far side of the net —  triggered an avalanche of apple souvenirs, given away for Backstrom’s celebration. The game as paused for almost five minutes as crews and players alike worked to clear the ice of tiny apples. 🍎
  • So, the Severson goal. It came right after a faceoff that the Caps lost. The preceding stoppage was allegedly an icing, and Washington wasn’t allowed to put their preferred players on the ice after it was changed to an offside. Oshie lost that faceoff, on ice with Hathaway and Mantha — basically no real centers. The Caps were mighty peeved about that.

  • Our pal Rachel rode the (ahem) ice-resurfacing machine tonight. Happy birthday, Rachel. You are both a dear friend and an inspiration. Many happy returns.
  • Behold, a power-play wrinkle: Alex Ovechkin‘s 42nd of the season was a goal line shot set up by a cross-crease pass from Kuznetsov. New Jersey goalie Nico Daws became the 156th goalie to go on Ovi’s list.

That’s the cool thing about hockey. This game was pretty dreary, and the Caps played pretty badly in it. But then one play elevated it, and now we’ll remember it forever.

“Do you remember the apple game?”

“Yeah! That was the best.”

Yeah, it really was.

One day off and then it’s a very tough home game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the team most likely to join the Beltway convoy.

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