The Washington Capitals, holding on with white knuckles to playoff hopes, played their last late-night game of the season against the Vegas Golden Knights, who are similarly struggling but in a way easier conference.
The Caps pulled out to an early lead, powered by a Hendrix Lapierre goal, ahead of three Knights scrambling after a turnover. Justin Sourdif doubled the score with a slam dunk on the power play in the second period. Anthony Beauvillier tipped Ryan Leonard‘s shot, and the Caps held a 3-0 lead before the game was halfway done. They were invincible.
Then the Knights scored four unanswered. The first two were shorthanded goals: vile traitor Nic Dowd and then Rasmus Andersson. Jack Eichel exploited a turnover by Martin Fehervary to tie it. Early in the third period, Mitch Marner gave Vegas the lead with a screened shot from way outside.
Again on the power play, Dylan Strome’s quick slapshot returned us to a tie with eleven minutes left. The tie held through regulation time.
Nothing doing in overtime, so here come late-night shootout bullets.
- Strome put the biscuit in the basket. Roofed it.
- Andersson did not put the biscuit in the basket.
- Leonard did not put the biscuit in the basket. Waited too long.
- Eichel did not put the biscuit in the basket. LT had the answer.
- PLD did not put the biscuit in the basket.
- Dorofiev did not put the biscuit in the basket.
- It was a brilliant start for the Caps, scoring the kinds of goals that have eluded them all calendar year. Vegas goalie Adin Hill looked rough. He was really struggling to stop pucks up until the precise point the Caps stopped shooting pucks at him.
- Hendrix Lapierre and the neurotransmitters in my tired brain both needed this goal. And I love the tenacity by Miro to make it happen.
- With his PPG, Justin Sourdif becomes the tenth rookie to score 15 goals this season. He also drew a very impactful penalty (derogatory) from Brayden McNabb and another in overtime.
- The Capitals gave up two shorthanded goals on that power play. The first was off a bad pass by Tom Wilson. The second was after Cole Hutson got caught watching. Wilson and Hutson both had bad nights. (I wrote that before Hutson made that devious pass to Strome.)
- Aliaksei Protas and Nic Dowd collided head-to-head late in the first period. Dowd got cut above his eye, spilling blood on the ice, but he returned (and scored). Protas was in worse shape. He tried once to get up only to collapse again. He did not return. I’m very worried about that.
- Dylan Strome drew blood from Ivan Barbashev in the third period, giving Vegas a four-minute power play at a terrible time. Two restraining penalties in a 30-second stretch by the Golden Knights quickly fizzled that PP and then Strome himself scored.
- Not a great game for Logan Thompson, but that glove save on Eichel in the shootout was clutch.
- Zero defensive shifts for Alex Ovechkin and zero goals. Coincidence? I think not.
Gonna be difficult to hear the broadcast tonight over the loudness of Craig Laughlin's suit #joebsuitofthenight
I’m glad to have no more late games for the next six months, but I can’t say I didn’t have fun. The Caps were great then good then horrible then good then great, and then the second shift happened. That’s not competent hockey, but it’s entertaining. It’s like a Yorgos movie. These are terrible people, and we’re sickos for watching, but I don’t regret doing so.
I don’t know if that changes the Caps’ fate, but it felt nice.
