While the Nationals played their very first World Series game in Texas, the Washington Capitals continued their road trip in winning fashion with a competent victory over the Calgary Flames.
After a scoreless first, John Carlson continued his absurd scoring with a wide-angle wrister that had no business becoming a goal. And yet it did, as did a “shot” taken by Chandler Stephenson from behind the Calgary goal line. So, uh, yikes for Cam Talbot. Elias Lindholm scored a power-play goal on the rush, and then Austin Czarnik tied the score with a layup as another power play had expired. Just ten seconds later, Alex Ovechkin took a rush pass from Nicklas Backstrom to restore Washington’s lead 3-2 heading into the third.
Tom Wilson extended the lead in the third period with some nice teamwork by Vrana and Eller, and John Carlson notched an empty-netter. The Flames got a garbage-time goal, but it was over.
Caps win!
Hey just to put it out there, yes, this happened tonight.
great moves @radkogudas @tom_wilso pic.twitter.com/BOzbjs4iIC
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 23, 2019
I don’t know what to say about it. I think maybe we all need some quiet contemplation about what it means to live in a world where that just happened. If you need to take a moment before reading the rest of the recap, I’d understand.
- I like to harp about how Chandler Stephenson doesn’t have any offense. His goal in this one was a great example of that. It would not have counted as a shot except that it ended up in the net. To his credit, that was a smart play — both in seizing on Cam Talbot and for putting the puck into traffic.
- The Caps of the first period had trouble getting much going. Calgary put 15 shots on Braden Holtby in that frame, which reminded me too much of Sunday’s sub-par effort in controlling play. The Caps improved as the game wore on, but I’m starting to wonder if those first couple weeks of possession dominance were just a blip. I hope not.
- We don’t know why, but it appears that Brenden Leipsic is in Todd Reirden’s doghouse. He didn’t get much ice time in this game, which sucks, but it did give us this moment.
same energy pic.twitter.com/MK5LC1T1y1
— hellsdanielles.bsky.social (@hellsdanielles) October 23, 2019
- Yawn, John Carlson scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season, bringing his point total to twenty. Reminder: it’s October. Carlson is next-level banana bonkers right now.
- Alex Ovechkin had a busy night with an assist and a goal. The goal was an instant response to Czarnik’s tying goal in the second period. I don’t know what people are saying out there about Ovechkin’s age-34 season, but I’m very happy with it so far.
- Cam Talbot had an off night for sure, so I can understand why the Flames opted to pull him with more than three minutes left in regulation. He was already gone in some ways. For the Chandler goal he was out in freaking Narnia.
Navy blue with a red tie #JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsFlames pic.twitter.com/ssHYNFS3e7
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) October 23, 2019
Not a flawless game, and I’m growingly increasingly worried about some pattern-level stuff (I’ll discuss in comments), but it was also an important road win against an improving team. I’ll take that any day.
I just want to thank everyone who stayed up late with me, especially if you shared photos of your sleeping pups with me over twitter. Warms my ice cold heart.
Go Nats.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Flames
Headline photo: Gerry Thomas
