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Caps beat Senators 3-2 as Ovechkin collects two assists

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The Washington Capitals played a strong road game against the Ottawa Senators, but too many penalties cost them a tidy regulation win.

Alex DeBrincat used wizardly power to deflect one past Darcy Kuemper. Evgeny Kuznetsov got a power-play goal assisted by Ovechkin. Sonny Milano crashed the net to clean up a shot by Alex Ovechkin. Drake Batherson tied it during a mega-sized power play early in the third. It was 2-2 after sixty minutes, then Marcus Johansson got the OTGWG.

Caps win!

  • Darcy Kuemper returned to action for the first time since December 3. He was good – the DeBrincat goal was unstoppable. And as good as Lindgren has been, the Caps are a better team when he’s not their only guy. I am sure Lindgren will start tomorrow at home against Winnipeg.
  • The Caps really controlled five-on-five play spectacularly well in the first half of the game. A lot of stuff under the covers is going well, even if an opponent like the Sens isn’t a great test.
  • We all tuned in to see Alex Ovechkin score two goals, but instead he merely gave us two assists. His second assist was nearly a goal, but Sonny Milano absolutely did the right thing by slapping it home from the paint. Corey Sznajder rightly cited it as a descendent of the kanooblian school.

  • Later, Milano drew blood with a high stick against Dylan Gambrell. The Sens scored on the ensuing four-minute power play. Gambrell stayed in the game, but the Senators had already lost two forwards to injury: Tyler Motte and Rourke Chartier. Jake Sanderson missed time in the third after absorbing a shot off Anthony Mantha.
  • In addition to Milano’s high-sticking, the Caps had penalty problems all night. Kuznetsov and Aube-Kubel both put the Caps down a man while the game was tied in the third.
  • This Dmitry Orlov hit, dear god.

  • One elite PKer: Trevor van Riemsdyk, who saved a goal in the third. TVR took a puck to the head late in the second period but was well enough to play in the third.

Another respectable game, just a bit pocked by those penalties. The Capitals spent so much of it defending a lead that some drop in possession was inevitable, and spending so much time on PK deprived them of attack time that should have secured a regulation win.

But no time to ruminate; the Caps play in less than 24 hours at home against the Jets.

Headline photo: @wakerwayfield

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