Photo: Geoff Burke
We’ve said this before, but Braden Holtby is really good (even when he’s not actually playing in an actual hockey game). Against the Islanders on Thursday night, Holtby was tremendous, stopping 24 of 26 shots. His best save came in the third period on John Tavares, but we didn’t notice until NBCSN showed a slo-mo replay.
Alex Ovechkin made his grand return on Thursday after he served a one-game suspension for skipping the All-Star Game. Ovechkin, in Great 8 form, scored the game-winning goal because of course he did.
Photo: Amanda Bowen
Winless for what seems like weeks, the Washington Capitals looked a bit flat at home against the New York Islanders. The Isles had a free pass into the Caps zone, whereas the Caps looked aimless, dumping and chasing to get deep. But possession aside, the Caps were the better finishers and escaped a close game with a #rego win thanks to their returned Captain and his late goal.
The Isles’ opening goal stung– it was (ex-Cap) Mikhail Grabovski off John Tavares through a billion screens. TJ Oshie got his 16th of the season off a pass from Nick Backstrom. The Isles had the puck for a million years but didn’t actually score, so Andre Burakovsky tapped in a puck set up by Jason Chimera to give the Caps the lead. With a chip shot from the paint, Josh Bailey made the game new in the third period.
Caps beat Isles 3-2! So this is what winning feels like!
By Peter Hassett 7 years ago
Tom Wilson wrecked Long Island last spring, and they haven’t forgotten it. Defenseman Thomas Hickey walloped Wilson with a pair of dirty hits in the first period of tonight’s game.
In addition to the Isles game, Thursday night at Verizon Center is also Military Appreciation Night. The Caps donned camo uniforms for warmups and sold Courage Caps (as in hats) for a good cause, but the best moment was the ceremonial puck drop.
Captains John Tavares and Alex Ovechkin joined Lance Corporal Josh Misiewicz, USMC, of the USA National sled hockey team at center ice for the ceremony.
Photo: Amanda Bowen
The best goal-scorer in the NHL returns to the Caps’ lineup tonight as the Islanders make the trip down from Brooklyn for a Metro battle. The Caps beat the Isles 4-1 when they met on January 7th.
The mission remains the same: pad the division lead. The Caps have 74 points, a 15 point lead in the division, and they are our guys. If things go badly tonight and you want to boo the team in red, we kindly ask that you get a grip. Thanks.
NBCSN has the coverage for the 7:30 game.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 35-9-4 | 52.1% | 102.0 | 25.3% | 83.7% |
| New York Islanders | 26-16-6 | 50.9% | 100.9 | 18.1% | 86.9% |
By Patrick Holden 7 years ago
