The Washington Capitals were, as they described it, “a little iffy” in the first two periods against the Winnipeg Jets Sunday afternoon.
The team came out slow after a pregame ceremony for TJ Oshie’s 1,000 games milestone while puck drop was shortly after 12:30 pm, usually a time when the players are preparing to nap for a game later that night.
Through two periods, the Jets outshot the Capitals 20 to 11 — 11 to 3 in the second period alone — and outperformed Washington at five-on-five despite playing the day before. The Jets held an edge in shot attempts (39 to 24) and scoring chances (16 to 11) while the Capitals held a slight lead in high-danger chances (6 to 5) per Natural Stat Trick.
When the second period ended, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery had seen enough. He entered the locker room and challenged his team.
“Carbs came in and gave a pretty direct speech on what needed to change in our game and the boys just responded really well,” TJ Oshie said postgame.
“Just win the game,” John Carlson said, summing up Carbery’s message. “Didn’t matter what happened the first two periods. They weren’t atrocious but they were not up to our standard. A little lackluster given the gravity of the situation. We would say we weren’t too proud of it. You’re not always going to have your fastball.”
The Capitals responded immediately, scoring on a man advantage that began at the tail end of the second stanza. John Carlson, jumping up to the top of the circles, found the back of the net with a huge slap shot 1:21 into the period.
“It started with the power play right there,” Oshie said. “We had a couple power plays before that that weren’t too sharp and not up to our standard, and then the boys just followed up after that.”
Alex Ovechkin then Alex Ovechkin’d, scoring two consecutive goals at five-on-five. The Capitals, especially goaltender Charlie Lindgren, held strong despite a barrage of shots in the final eight minutes to win 3-0.
“We hung in there and didn’t play ourselves out of the game or make the mountain too high to climb back from,” Carlson said. “All you ask for is opportunities. We were on the power play, we had a good chance. We feel confident in this room right now and went out and did it.”
The Capitals jumped back ahead of the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with the victory.
Carbery described his speech to the team as “really direct.”
“I just knew we had more,” he said after the win. “I knew we had more. It might not be pretty and polished, but I knew we had more given the circumstances and I just felt like whether it was the afternoon or the Osh ceremony, we were just… the first was okay, the second we weren’t good at all. And it felt like, even though the puck touches might not have been great, there wasn’t any desperation to what we were doing anywhere on the ice.
“We couldn’t get in the offensive zone, we couldn’t recover pucks. Again, our group, we talked and when you look them in the eyes, ‘Hey, we’re in Game 70 now.’ And they sort of snapped out of it and were like, ‘Absolutely.’ And that’s probably our best period of the season.”
The effect was near-instant. Carbery credited the power play for setting the tone and how the team managed the puck. But what he loved most was the noticeable change in energy and focus.
“Guys on the bench totally engaged,” Carbery said. “It just flipped. And the third period, when we needed it the most, given our circumstances, our best period of the season.”
Since coming back from the NHL All-Star break, the Capitals have gone 13-8-2, winning big game after big game lately despite injury, trade deadline deals, a suspension to Tom Wilson, and one of the hardest remaining schedules in the NHL. The Caps’ bounce back year — after missing the playoffs last season under Peter Laviolette — has brought Carbery’s name into NHL coach of the year chatter, and moments like his second-intermission speech show why.
“They weren’t our best periods but you have to find a way to get it done when it matters,” Carlson said. “We’re laying it on the line. It’s great the guys are coming together.”
