The Washington Capitals visited Utah’s Delta Center for the second time ever on Thursday night. After a rough loss in St. Louis, the Caps were looking for a bounce-back opportunity against the young and fast Mammoth.
Ivan Miroshnichenko opened the scoring with a blast from just inside Utah’s blueline. Dylan Guenther scored back-to-back goals to give the Mammoth the lead. Logan Cooley extended that lead with a late first-period power-play tally. Alex Ovechkin responded for the Capitals with two goals of his own to tie the game.
Anthony Beauvillier put the Caps in front with a tip-in goal on a power play. Rasmus Sandin extended the lead just 3:19 later, finishing off a Beauvillier rush chance. MacKenzie Weegar drew the Mammoth back within one, but then Miroshnichenko got his second of the night to put the Caps back up two. Hat trick for the greatest goal scorer of all time to seal it.
Capitals beat Mammoth 7-4!
- The first period was pretty even at five-on-five, and the Capitals even took an early lead after some good pressure. And then, the Fire Nation attacked. No, not Avatar, but the two referees assigned to the game, Jean Hebert and Trevor Hanson. Just a sheer display of incompetence that completely turned the game on its head.
- First, they blew a call on Dylan Strome, sending him to the box for “tripping” Mikhail Sergachev, when in reality, Sergachev just toe-picked and caused his own fall to the ice. Utah scored on the ensuing power play. Then, their pièce de résistance, their magnum opus per se, came later in the period when they assessed Brandon Tanev just two minutes for boarding Matt Roy, even though Tanev came from the planet Mars to drive Roy’s head into the boards. Tom Wilson received four minutes of roughing penalties in response to the hit. Utah scored on that ensuing power play as well.
- Ivan Miroshnichenko provided the lone bright spot in the first 20 minutes, pumping home his first goal in the NHL since November 25, 2024. Hendrix Lapierre provided the primary assist, pushing back the Mammoth defense before dropping a feed to the Russian winger. Miroshnichenko would net his second of the game in the third period, getting a good bounce off a Mammoth defender after a net drive.
- The Capitals were the better team in the second period, hemming the Mammoth into their zone on a few occasions. Really good to see the response from this team after getting absolutely jobbed by the officials, which would only continue after the Caps tied the game. More on that later.
- Alex Ovechkin finally beat Vitek Vanecek, twice denting the twine behind his former teammate. Coming into the game, Vanecek was the active goaltender with the most saves against Ovechkin without allowing a goal. Now, he’s the 189th goaltender on Ovechkin’s list, and the fifth added this season.
- After ducking a fight with Wilson earlier, Tanev dropped the gloves with the smaller Brandon Duhaime. Duhaime got Tanev’s helmet off, and the latter immediately turtled, ending the bout. Duhaime received a line of recognition in the penalty box from his teammates for stepping up to take on Tanev.
- Near the end of the second frame, Wilson absolutely leveled Jack McBain. The huge, clean hit was initially called a five-minute major on the ice, but was reduced to a two-minute minor for interference after review. Another brutal, wrong call, likely made purely based on reputation and not wanting the embarrassment of taking Wilson out of the box altogether. Claps all around for Hebert and Hanson, the true stars of the show.
- What an absolutely wild third period. That was a coach’s worst nightmare, but way more fun to watch than what we’ve gotten from the Capitals lately. Tremendous work from Logan Thompson late as well.
- Wilson did eventually get his fight, tangling with Lawson Crouse immediately out of the box. The Capitals’ alternate captain got the better of Crouse, and the latter threw an extra punch after both players were already on the ice. The refs finally got a call right and handed Crouse an extra penalty.
- Ovechkin sealed the game with an empty-netter to grab his second hat trick of the season. In two career trips to the Delta Center, Ovechkin has five goals.
The Capitals will finish up their three-game road trip against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night. Ah, the memories from that building. Good times.
