The Washington Capitals hosted the New Jersey Devils in a classic Metropolitan Division battle on Friday night. Neither team is well-positioned to make this year’s playoffs, but the Capitals certainly needed a win to keep their slim hopes alive.
Ryan Leonard plucked a puck out of mid-air and rifled a wicked shot past Jake Allen to open the scoring. Aliaksei Protas hit the empty net. Jesper Bratt drew the Devils within one with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
Capitals beat Devils 2-1!
- The Capitals had some almighty jump to start this game, and it lasted pretty much the entire first period. They looked incredible and should have left the period up by more than just one goal. I thought the fourth line, led by a physical (yes, I mean that word) Hendrix Lapierre, was the best of the bunch for the Caps, and they were out there driving play right before the lone marker. Impressive stuff…which was missing for like the last three months, but impressive nonetheless.
- Ryan Leonard scored the goal to put the Capitals up 1-0, whipping a high-powered wrister into the top corner. The goal was his 15th of the season, making him the first Caps rookie since Alex Ovechkin (52) in 2005-06 to hit the 15-goal mark. Would be really nice to see him stay hot during this final stretch and hit 20 tallies.
- The Capitals tweeted this below pair of images with that caption, and I have a question to pose for anyone reading this under the age of 25. Do you know which “AI” they are referring to? Please tell me you do. I need to not feel ancient after turning 30 in October.
- The Capitals were again excellent in the second period. However, way too much overpassing, and they still clearly need a forward or two that can put the puck in the net with regularity. So many grade-A chances were wasted that need to be converted. Otherwise, they escaped that late power-play pressure, getting some great goaltending from Logan Thompson. He made a particularly big stop on Jesper Bratt with about 10 seconds on the clock.
- What else can you say about Cole Hutson? This kid is magic personified. He outmuscled Jack Hughes, threw him to the ice, and should have drawn a crosschecking penalty if the referees weren’t terrible. Minutes later, he sent Maxim Tsyplakov to the shops and rang a wrister off the post. Feed him the puck at any and all times.
- Anthony Beauvillier had a particularly impressive night. He was all around the puck in all three zones. I still haven’t loved the Ovechkin-Strome-Beauvillier connection, but he’s still a very useful player who will hopefully look even better further down the depth chart next season.
- Everyone, say happy birthday to Ethan Oland in the comments!
- Definitely a ton of pressure from the Devils in the third period, but the Capitals responded well. Logan Thompson was utterly fantastic.
- The Capitals need to play Hutson on the first power-play unit for the rest of the season. If you need to have Jakob Chychrun out there somewhere as well, so be it. Anyone disagree?
- Ethen Frank has had a whole host of chances recently and just can’t dent the twine. He has scored just one goal since January 21. Frank’s still been good overall, but I would really want to see him on the scoresheet more.
The Capitals have one more game remaining on this homestand, and it’s a matinee matchup with the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Should be fun to see a little Cole Hutson vs. Cale Makar action.
