It was a slushy, dreary night in the District. But inside Verizon Center, there were many happy times. Alex Ovechkin nearly had a hat trick — hilariously falling over in the making of his first goal — as the Caps defeated shutout the Maple Leafs 4-0.
But the best moment came after the game, when Barry Trotz’s son Nolan, who has Down syndrome joined his dad for his postgame press conference.
By Chris Gordon 9 years ago
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how the Washington Capitals were dominating the NHL leaderboard. Another fun milestone comes tonight. Alex Ovechkin has taken over the league lead in points from… Nicklas Backstrom! Yup, it’s still a great (er, GR8) time to be a Caps fan.
Whoa, relax Andre. It’s just an NHL goal.
We needed this. The Capitals had a rough week, but they capped it off with a steady victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night.
Alex Ovechkin was the guy. He scored on his very first shift, using the space allowed to him by a gracious Leafs defense to shoot from the slot. He scored again in the second, snatching Brooks Orpik’s rebound to put the Caps up two.
Marcus Johansson sidled up to the scoreboard with a backdoor tap-in in the third period. Joel Ward launched an ICBM from the Caps’ side of the ice to score an empty netter with five minutes left.
Caps beat Leafs 4-0. Slump busted. Holtby perfect.
By Peter Hassett 9 years ago
Things got a little chippy between the Caps and Leafs about halfway through the first period. Tom Wilson nailed Zach Sill in the corner.
Then something weird happened on the bench.
Photo: Patrick McDermott
Alex Ovechkin just scored again– this time thanks to a smart play by Brooks Orpik. Orpik, winding up from the point, fired a shot that Leafs goaltender James Reimer could not corral. The rebound spilled to Ovechkin in the slot, who backhanded the puck home.
Thirty-three seconds into Sunday’s game, Alex Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the season and his 462nd career goal. It’s the seventh time Ovi’s done that in his ten NHL seasons.
Naturally, this was deserving of a celebration.
Big deal, Curtis. Anyone can point at an Edmonton goalie.
The deadline isn’t until Monday afternoon, but the Washington Capitals might already be done. After acquiring Tim Gleason and Curtis Glencross, the Caps current roster might be the same one we see in the postseason. Or maybe not.
Tonight’s game, at home against the Maple Leafs, is the organization’s last chance to evaluate their players before all sales are final. 7 PM on CSN.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 33-20-10 | 51.5% | 100.3 | 23.3% | 81.1% |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 25-32-5 | 46.4% | 100.0 | 18.5% | 82.0% |
By Peter Hassett 9 years ago
