Photo: Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports
Friday night, the Capitals were outscored in regulation for just the 13th time this season. I believe they call it a “loss.” Following the game, the Caps got in their blacked out AMG Mercedes and tore down Constitution Avenue on the way to Dulles with a date with the Boston Bruins on the horizon. Everything was in order as Washington began its longest road trip of the season, with the Capitals allowing the first goal for the 10th time in 12 games. The Caps would have been down 2-nil after 20, but Barry Trotz successfully challenged a goal by Torey Krug after the Bruins were offside.
In the second, the Capitals spent an inordinate amount of time on the PK, with eight of the 12 Bruins shots in the period coming on the man-advantage. Nevertheless, it was the Capitals who got on the board, when Karl Alzner crashed the net off an excellent feed from Nicklas Backstrom.
Washington dominated the third, outshooting the Bruins 10-4 in the frame, but the game headed to overtime.
Matt Niskanen unleashed the cannon. Caps beat Bruins 2-1 (OT)!
- About all those penalties. Both teams got tagged with iffy calls so I won’t complain wholesale. Alex Ovechkin’s five minute major for boarding, which eventually turned into an elongated five-on-three for Boston after Tom Wilson was nabbed for interference, was nonsense. In my mind, it wasn’t a penalty. Ovechkin shoved Kevan Miller. He merely skated into him at moderate speed. If Miller doesn’t go down, nothing gets called.
Ovechkin gets five-minute major for this board of Kevan Miller pic.twitter.com/iHMf2kqoWL
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 6, 2016
- Philipp Grubauer was a revelation during the five-on-three. He looked like was doing Olympic trials for Germany’s Rio gymnastics, going to the splits three or four times while making three or four game-saving stops. Maybe I should have counted more carefully.
- Karl Alzner did his best Evgeny Kuznetsov, skating behind the net before feeding the puck to Alex Ovechkin. Ovi gave it to Nicklas Backstrom who made brilliant feed to Alzner, who was alone in front of the net because the Bruins were probably wondering why the hell he was in front of the net.
- The real Evgeny Kuznetsov provided most of the Capitals offense early on with five of Washington’s first 13 shots. He nearly scored twice but was robbed by Tuukka Rask, who was been excellent lately. He finished with seven shots on goal and 10 shot attempts. He was brilliant in the faceoff date as well.
- Matt “Game Over” Niskanen.
- In case you forgot about Brooks Orpik.
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 6, 2016
- For the second night in a row, the new fourth line of Mike Richards, Daniel Winnik, Jay Beagle was brilliant while Richards did the Lord’s work on the PK.
- Another one goal game. That’s 10 in a row for the Caps. Drink. I mean, it’s Saturday.
The Washington Capitals are the 10th team in NHL history to reach 100 points through 65 games.
