The Washington Capitals were done with this very long road trip, thoroughly over it, throwing their final game with the Ottawa Senators as if they were offended it was scheduled in the first place.
A million things happened in the first period, but none worth mentioning here. Eventually in the second period, Ridly Greig, both of whose names I misspelled on my first try, scored a power-play goal after some nice puck movement. Connor McMichael responded with a special-teams goal of his own, a nutty short-side shot that I’m not gonna describe further; just look at it:
Josh Norris scored on a penalty shot that shouldn’t have happened. The Caps were crashing out at that point, late in the second, and thusly allowed Shane Pinto to score a shorthanded goal.
Dylan Strome promptly converted a power-play in the third, and then Alex Ovechkin scored 876, and then Dylan Strome scrambled to tie it up. No one saw it coming.
Except me. Good enough for a point, but the Caps got beat in overtime by Thomas Chabot.
Caps lose.
- The Capitals committed their ninth too-many-men penalty, and then immediately they committed their tenth too-many-men penalty. There’s just a fundamental and irreconcilable disagreement between Washington and the league about how many men should be on the ice. They think it should be more.
- Connor McMichael hadn’t scored a goal since January 4. His marker tonight was sick. I hope he’s returning to form.
- Alex Ovechkin had nearly gone a week without scoring a goal. That had happened before this season, though he had a broken leg then. It could not be abided. He’s got 876. Nineteen to go. His contributions here were impeccably timed, including making Strome’s game-tying goal happen.
- I hate when they make me do this. Here’s rule 56.6, emphasis added:
Penalty Shot – When a player in control of the puck in the neutral or attacking zone and having no other opponent to pass than the goalkeeper is interfered with by a stick or any part thereof [. . . ] a penalty shot shall be awarded to the non-offending team.
- Now here’s Josh Norris on the breakaway. He hadn’t touched the puck yet, let alone control it.
- That bad call is not why the Capitals lost this game. The Capitals playing badly is why they lost this game, but while I’m complaining about the second thing I’m also gonna complain about the first thing. It’s muscle memory.
- Not sure the second penalty shot was legit either. Sorry, Aliaksei Protas.
- The power play. Friends, we need to talk about the power play. It sucks! The Senators got better chances on the power play than the Caps did; In the second period the Caps possessed just 34.8 percent of the expected goals when they had more players on the ice than the other team – legally. The Caps just couldn’t cross the blue line with any control. I saw Dylan Strome drop pass at the blue line to a guy in the other jersey.
- Drake Batherson (great late-era hockey name) got a Brady Tkachuk goal washed out for goalie interference. It’s one of the rare situations where everyone sees the play and says, “oh yeah, that’s goalie interference.” Except Ian. Ask Ian about that one. He’s off his rocker, but it’s entertaining.
- Two goals for Dylan Strome, three in his last two games. He’s back.
okay can we just have a chill 2.5 hours PLEASE #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/9tseo07yfQ
— RMNB (@rmnb) January 30, 2025
It has been an unrelenting week, full of loss. Last night’s plane crash killed lots of people, including some in our community. Wes is still in the hospital (but doing better!). Shawn Simpson, Skipjacks legend, passed away after a long mental-health struggle heartbreakingly detailed by his friend Brent Wallace. And right now there are people in our world losing their jobs and losing their homes. Some are scared just to be themselves right now.
Shit sucks.
Hockey is only ever a thin salve, and even a freakishly good Caps team lets us down sometimes. But, man, we all could have used a W tonight. Instead, a thrilling comeback to earn a loser point is all we get. Still: bless these dumb and terrible hockey players, who were not totally defeated in spite of themselves, and who are together still the best team on the planet, exactly as no one expected.
Thank you for the respite, even if it’s just a little. We deserved it, and now they do too. For the first time since January 20, the Caps will sleep at home tonight. (Or early tomorrow morning.) They’ll rest and regroup, and we will too. Don’t let the bastards – you know the rest.
