The Washington Capitals had their first game since coming off their scheduled bye week and their opponent, the New Jersey Devils very obviously did not. The rusty Caps somehow scraped out a point before falling to the Devils 4-3 in overtime.
The Devils both out-shot the Caps 32 to 19 and out-attempted them five-on-five 47 to 28. Yikes.
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
Nearly a month ago, TJ Oshie returned to the ice after missing six games due to his fourth documented concussion. Oshie was injured December 4 against the San Jose Sharks. After falling to the ice after delivering a hit, the Caps forward was butt checked in the head by San Jose Sharks forward Joe Thornton.
Oshie’s bad luck with opposing players’ derrieres continued Thursday in New Jersey.
New Jersey Devils starting goaltender Cory Schneider may not have played Thursday against the Capitals, but he unwittingly found himself a part of the action during a second period power play.
As Brooks Orpik defended Marcus Johansson as he entered the zone, the Caps defenseman swung his stick and accidentally struck Schneider in the side of the head.
It was scary, but Cory would be okay.
Brett Connolly has occasionally been a healthy scratch during his two seasons with the Capitals due to inconsistent play. Yet when Barry Trotz has him out there, Conno keeps scoring goals at a consistent pace.
After scoring twice against the New Jersey Devils Thursday, the bottom-six forward has 12 goals on the season. That’s more than top-six forwards TJ Oshie (11), Jakub Vrana (10), and Nicklas Backstrom (9). He only trails Alex Ovechkin (28) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (13).
Connolly’s 12 goals in 37 games also puts him on pace to set a new career high in tallies (15) which he set last year after 66 games.
Thursday night, Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov matched his goal total from all of last year with a second period tally against Keith Kincaid.
It was a classic SCOARLOV.
The Caps got back into action on Thursday night against the Devils in New Jersey.
Drew Stafford opened the scoring about eight minutes into the game with a breakaway goal. Just a few minutes later, Brett Connolly tied the game after TJ Oshie gamed his Corsi.
Early in the second, Andy Greene (of all people) put home a knuckling puck to put the home team back on top. Miles Wood got behind the snoozing Caps D off a draw and scored on a breakaway to make the game 3-1. Dmitry Orlov responded immediately with a mondo slapshot to bring the Caps back within one.
With less than five minutes left, Brett Connolly put home a sweet dish from Evgeny Kuznetsov to tie the game at three.
Taylor Hall did Taylor Hall things in overtime.
Caps lose 4-3.
By Patrick Holden 5 years ago
Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson involuntarily face punched Brian Boyle Thursday after delivering a clean, but humangous big hit to Brian Gibbons in the second period.
Bah gawd! It’s another Metropolitan Division matchup.
The Caps have traveled up I-95 to the state that natives always claim “is actually a good state.” That’s right, New Jersey!
The Capitals might look a tad rusty, since they’re coming off a bye week and also don’t have Andre Burakovsky in the lineup. The Devils currently sit five points behind the Capitals and have played two less games. That’s all fine and dandy, but it won’t be enough when it’s crunch time in the division. As the SBNation blog All About the Jersey says, for the Devils to make the playoffs, “it’s do-or-die with these games.”
The game begins at 7:00 PM on NBCSN, (or MSG+ for those of us in the Big Apple Area). Mr. Pat Holden will bring you that sweet, sweet recap.
By Elyse Bailey 5 years ago
