On a lovely Tuesday night, the Washington Capitals squeaked out a win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Capitals will now pack their bags and head up to Winnipeg….to play the Jets again. Apologies about the pun in the title, I can’t control it.
A wonderful ceremony honoring Alex Ovechkin’s 700th goal followed by an Alex Ovechkin goal to open the game? What a beautiful beginning on the road to #800VI. A few minutes later, Jakub Vrana turned up the speed and fired a shot to the back of the net, bringing the Capitals up 2-0 heading into the second period.
Only goal in the second period, for the good guys, came from Garnet Hathaway after 13 and a half minutes. He immediately got into a fight, which had us all begging for a Gordie Howe hat trick. There was a bad turnover in front of Holtby and Nikolaj Ehlers got one in for the Jets before the end of the period.
Third period and John Carlson turned the puck over at the blue line to give the Jets a moment to bring the score up 3-2. A puck off of Orlov’s skate and through Holtby tied the game. Overtime was not enough for this game, so a shootout occurred and Alex Ovechkin scored the game-winning shootout goal. Of course he did.
Caps win!
- Please watch the ceremony for Alex Ovechkin’s 700th goal and watch until the very end. It’s worth every single second.
- We mentioned already that tonight was Ilya Kovalchuk‘s debut with the Capitals, he’s the 556th player in franchise history to play in a game.
- Alex Ovechkin scored goal number 701 right after the ceremony that honored his 700th goal. It’s his 43rd of the season and he’s now tied with Auston Matthews for second in the NHL.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov looked like a totally different player from what we’ve seen all season. Maybe he just needed Ilya Kovalchuk to come on board, or maybe he just felt like kicking it (literally, please see below) into gear at the end of February. Either way, here’s hoping he keeps it up.
Evgeny Kuznetsov with the karate kick pic.twitter.com/6UzcotiyGp
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) February 26, 2020
- Jakub Vrana scored his 25th goal of the season to bring the Capitals up 2-0 in the first period. This is a new career high for Vrana and his speed? Whew.
Jakub Vrana puts on the jets and scores. Wow. 2-0 Caps. pic.twitter.com/6MTmBPbJt3
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) February 26, 2020
- I don’t think I was the only one when I say that I was hoping for a Gordie Howe hat trick from Garnet Hathaway. He scored his seventh goal of the season and then got into a fight less than ten seconds later. Alas, it didn’t happen, but it was great to see him get a goal for the first time in 24 games.
- The third line? Not lookin’ too shabby!
- John Carlson could’ve been better.
- TJ Oshie scored his 45th career shootout goal this evening!
Oshie’s shootout goal against the Jets marked his 45th career shootout goal in 86 attempts (52.3 percent), the 12th-highest shooutout percentage (minimum: 10 attempts) in NHL history. Oshie’s 45 shootout goals are also tied for the fourth-most in NHL history.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 26, 2020
- Note on the Hershey Bears front: enforcer Kale Kessy was knocked out during a fight tonight and had to be stretchered off the ice.
Featuring a #700VI pin #JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsJets pic.twitter.com/BXxqZdGSWR
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) February 26, 2020
Well, shall we do this again soon? Like say Thursday? When the Capitals play the Jets again? See you then.
