The Washington Capitals kicked off a short road trip of late-night games in the flyover states with a solid win over the Colorado Avalanche that they managed not to blow in the final minutes. So there’s progress.
With Colorado’s first shot of the night, Parker Kelly beat Charlie Lindgren through some traffic. Jakub Vrana tied it with Washington’s first shot of the night, a power-play goal after some smart puck management. Connor McMichael got on the board with a slapshot set up by some great play down low by Tom Wilson.
Cut to the second period, where McMichael did it again with a dazzling solo effort that has to be the best highlight of his career so far. Nikolai Kovalenko had a pretty one after Parker Kelly funneled the puck towards the net from the blue line. And Jakub Chychrun settled a pass from Dubois and released it perfectly to give Washington a two-goal lead after two periods.
The third period was punctuated by whistles but brought us but one final goal: Rasmus Sandin against an empty net.
Caps win 5-2!
- Big thanks to all our friends and readers in Colorado who sent us pics tonight. Great stuff.
- After like 15 RMNB articles leading up to it, Lars Eller played his first game as a Washington Capital since February 26, 2023. Days after that, the Capitals traded him to… tonight’s opponents. Eller drew a penalty on his second shift. He tried to get some chemistry brewing with Vrana. Let’s give that some more time.
- I don’t know how to describe the level Connor McMichael is on right now. He’s all-encompassing. Shooting, skating, playmaking, finishing. He looks like he was born to do this. His solo effort on his second goal is the kind of play only the league’s top echelon can pull of.
- Uh, just look at this hit Martin Fehervary did. I had to check my fillings after watching this. Ian is calling it the hit of the year.
#ALLCAPS FEHERVARY WITH A DEMOLISHING HIT OMG pic.twitter.com/NzcPjNQlRB
— x – Capitals Replays 🍁 (@capsreplays) November 16, 2024
- Both the Avs and Caps scored on their first shots of the night. Colorado goalie Henneth Annûn got chased from the net after allow three goals on six shots. Replacing him was Trent Miner, playing his first-ever NHL game. Ovi scored on neither. Nor the empty net.
- Nic Dowd and the fourth line had a very tough assignment tonight: shut down Lehkonen – MacKinnon – Rantanen. They did, but it was ugly, with full shifts spent entirely in the defensive zone. Dowd was on the ice for two Avs goals, but they were both against other lines.
- In collaboration with Becca from Japers Rink, we have confirmed that the Avalanche lead the league in players whose names end in -nen and -non.
- The #crashers of the RMNB Discord spent the second period coming up for emoji for each forward. From Will and Marenta and Reschly and Mike and Prestizzle and Guy and Timbo and Kat and Mark, here are tonight’s lines:
- Brandon Duhaime missed the end of the game after blocking a shot halfway into the third period.
- So many good performances in this one, but along with Connor Mc
DavidMichael, Tom Wilson was the star to me. After that tragic goof-up against Toronto, Wilson was dialed-in all night. His pass to McMichael was flawless, and when the Caps were in lead-protection mode, Wilson stayed aggressive, suffocating Colorado’s breakout before it could get started.
Hell yeah this is a great #joebsuitofthenight pic, let's have a good time tonight pic.twitter.com/qEmQh3UvkL
— RMNB (@rmnb) November 16, 2024
I was worried when the Caps burst out to an early lead, considering how poorly that went on Wednesday night. But this time the Caps actually drove more of play after pulling ahead, rather than less. And as fun as the team is when they’re on offensive – full of quick passes and quicker shots – they’re oppressive when they needed to slow down this game.
The Caps remain .500 in November. See you Sunday night for the Knights. They’re a very interesting team this season. Might be the most winnable game of this roadtrip. I’d sure love to see two W’s next to each other on the sheet.
