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Caps, Canes, Chaos: Caps win 7-6 in the shootout

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WSH vs CAR
📸: @kurly from #crashers

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On Friday night, the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes played a high-octane, high-tension, high-scoring game of chaos-hockey that everyone enjoyed except goalies.

Sebastian Aho scored his and the game’s first goal of the night after drawing Darcy Kuemper out from his crease. Sonny Milano returned fire with a lightning-fast backhand goal after a turnover by Brent Burns. Jaccob Slavin gave the Canes the lead heading into the first intermission when he really should have been covered by a Caps defender.

Alex Ovechkin scored his 24th of the season on a layup during a second-period power play, and Sonny Milano gave the Caps the lead with a next-level juggle goal. Less than a minute later, Aho got his second of the night, on a pass and shot that should not have been allowed to happen. Brady Skjei put the Canes back in the lead, beating Darcy Kuemper’s casual glove hand.

The Caps rallied with Charlie Lindgren coming on in relief. John Carlson tied it with a monster slapshot on a third-period power play, and then Sonny Milano made it a hat trick, but Seth Jarvis again tied the game with a sharp one-timer on a Canes power play. With six minutes left, Connor McMichael cleaned up a long bomb from TVR to give the Caps a late lead, but with their net empty the Canes tied it yet again, Aho deflecting a long shot for a hat trick of his own.

Overtime was more mania, but without a goalie. So sure, let’s do it yet again. Shootout bullets!

  • Kuznetsov did not put the biscuit in the basket. (ahahahahahahahahaaahaaahhaa)
  • Milano did not put the biscuit in the basket. Pokechecked.
  • Svechnikov did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • McMichael did not put the biscuit in the basket. Pockchecked.
  • Guentzel did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Ovechkin did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Teravainen did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Carlson did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Aho did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Strome put the biscuit in the basket!

Caps win!

  • This game was tied with eight minutes left, and the difference between a regulation loss and a regulation win was a 19-point swing to Washington’s playoff hopes. So Connor McMichael‘s goal should have been the most important Caps goal in years, if only they had kept the lead.
  • Here, I annotated tonight’s lineup to indicate which players were on the 2018 championship team.

caps lineup

  • Sorry.
  • Darcy Kuemper had a bad night. He was out of position on one goal, slow to react on another, weak with the glove on a third. He earned a hook after two periods.
  • And without the video-coach efforts of Emily Engel-Natzke, Kuemper would have been two deeper in the hole. Engel-Natzke was key in challenging two goals – the second one, a run-of-the-mill offside call, but the first one was Evgeny Kuznetsov interfering with the goalie. More on him in a moment.
  • But Kuemper should not be considered the sole reason for Washington’s early struggles. The defense was unacceptably bad, none more so than on Aho’s second goal. Fehervary lost Guentzel, Carlson and Dowd permitted a crisp royal-road pass, and nobody was anywhere near the goal-scorer. Terrible.

  • On the positive side, Alex Ovechkin now sits at 24 goals, 49 shy of Wayne. And he added a new name to The List. Please don’t take this stat to #thebank, but Ovechkin’s pace since the all-star break would put him at 55 goals in an 82-game season.
  • I think every hockey game should have ten or more goals. The NHL should change whatever rules that need to be changed to make it so. These games are fun. Everyone has a blast. Everyone except for those weird freaks, the goalies.
  • Sonny Milano had three marvelous goals, earning his first career hat trick. He was brilliant. I want to highlight his second one, which felt more like a stunt than a hockey play. Like he was bouncing ping pong balls off pots and pans and into a solo cup on TikTok.

Criminy! What was that?! That was like three games in one. I despised how the Caps played at the start, but by the third they had the league’s best possession team (albeit a tired one) on their heels.

Two gigantic standings points. That was thrilling and inspiring. I loved it. I hope you did too.

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