The Washington Capitals had their empty net scored upon with only a minute left in regulation to go down two goals. They took that challenge head on and ended up taking down the San Jose Sharks 5-4 in overtime.
The total shots were tied at 29 apiece, as were the total shot attempts at five-on-five at 45 apiece.
- The Caps did not play a very strong game at even strength. Braden Holtby, often maligned so far this season and even in this game, kept the boys in this one through two periods as the scoreline really could have gotten much worse. However, it was encouraging to see the team yet again pull together a fantastic third period, leading to the insane comeback capped by the overtime winner.
- TJ Oshie‘s goal to get the Caps to overtime in the first place was the team’s sixth goal of the season with their netminder pulled. That is tied for first in the whole league.
- You could tell from the start of this one that Jakub Vrana was going to score. He ended up with his eighth career multi goal game and now has three goals in two games. When Jake is hot, pucks go in the net for him in quick succession. His 17 goals this season at even strength are tied with Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon for the fourth most in the NHL.
Today’s Capitals win marked the sixth time in NHL history a team won a game after allowing an empty net goal and the first time since Oct. 15, 2016 (Vancouver 2, Calgary 1, SO).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 5, 2020
The @Capitals overcame a multi-goal deficit in the final minute of regulation to win for the first time in franchise history. #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/GfaXPRn9Sz
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 5, 2020
- Nic Dowd grabbed his first goal since he and his wife Paige welcomed their first child into the world. Congrats Nic, may your newfound dad strength serve you well.
- I noticed Michal Kempny in a good way, which has been a little too uncommon of late. That matches up with the stat sheet as with Kempny on the ice at five-on-five, the Caps controlled 55.3-percent of the shot attempts, 64.3-percent of the scoring chances, and 75-percent of the high danger chances.
- Congratulations to Connor McMichael on winning a gold medal with Team Canada at this year’s World Juniors. The Caps 2019 first round pick ended the tournament with seven points in seven games, including five goals. His seven points were good for fourth most on Team Canada and his five goals were second most on the team to Barrett Hayton (six) and third most in the entire tournament. This is made even more impressive due to the fact that he did most of this damage from Canada’s bottom six forward group because Dale Hunter is Dale Hunter.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Sharks
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
