Wednesday night against the Rangers, the Capitals doled out several big hits. Dmitry Orlov snuffed out a breakaway attempt by destroying Brendan Smith and Tom Wilson enveloped Steven Kampfer into the boards after a dump in.
There was one other hit I need to talk about: Justin Williams’ butt check.
After every home contest at Verizon Center, the Washington Capitals announce their Three Stars of the Game. The Capitals players that are selected will sign a puck, wave to the crowd, and then toss the collectible to their favorite fan. It’s pretty standard fare.
On Wednesday night, after scoring his 19th goal of the season, Evgeny Kuznetsov decided to give his Second Star of the Game puck to NBC’s Pierre McGuire.
We were first alerted to the news by reader Jenn (@OsRavensCaps).
Dmitry Orlov authored the biggest hit of the Capitals’ season in October, when he sent Matt Duchene airborne.
Wednesday night on national television, Orlov broke up a Rangers breakaway in the most Orly way possible.
Wednesday night, the Caps beat the Rangers 2-0 in their 12th shutout of the year, and Braden Holtby’s ninth. More importantly, it’s time for the playoffs. By gaining at least one point last night, the Caps clinched the Presidents’ Trophy and the Metro Division title for the second year in a row. They have only to wait and see who their opponent will be. Tonight there will be many relevant games to that end, and thankfully none of them will involve Pittsburgh.
Last night’s game was fairly evenly played, with the Caps getting outshot at five-on-five 18 attempts to 15 in the first period but then outshooting the Rangers 30 to 20 over the final two frames. Scoring chances were also even at 21 to 20.
By Nathan Sick 6 years ago
Wednesday night after the Caps clinched the number one seed in the playoffs, Nate Schmidt spoke with CSN Mid-Atlantic and explained the story behind his mohawk. It involves a hotel bathroom, a razor, a hockey superstar who has no training as a barber, and regret.
You guys.
With their 2-0 win over the Rangers, the Washington Capitals clinched:
Wednesday night is rivalry night on NBCSN and this one featured an actual rivalry. On top of that, the Caps had a chance to clinch a bunch of things that are not the Stanley Cup.
The first period happened, even if the Caps seemed unaware of this fact at times. The team went over six minutes without a shot attempt in the middle of the frame. But the guys in red picked up the action towards the end of the frame.
The action at the end of the first period did not carry over into the second period and both teams struggled to create much flow or pace. But then, a little over halfway through the period, some guys broke the rules and the Caps found themselves with their second 4-on-3 of the night. The pace picked up and, once play had gone to 5-on-4, Alex Ovechkin did his thing and the Caps went up 1-0.
Just over five minutes into the third, Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov hooked up for a pretty goal. Fans of the EA Sports NHL video game series know that the inside-outside deke Kuznetsov pulled on Henrik Lundqvist is unstoppable.
Caps win 2-0!
Caps clinch the Metro! And the East! And the Presidents’ trophy!
By Patrick Holden 6 years ago
A week ago, handsome human Tom Wilson looked like he was starring in a slasher film after getting cut open during a fight. Now it’s babyface TJ Oshie who is bleeding.
11PM update: The scoring has been changed on the Ovechkin goal. Justin Williams is now being credited with the tally.
Scoring change for Caps first goal: now belongs to Williams, from Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.
— Katie Brown (@katiebhockey) April 6, 2017
Original story: We’ve got some breaking news to report. Alex Ovechkin just scored another goal from his office. And surprise, surprise, it was on Henrik Lundqvist.
Former Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, is at Verizon Center for the Caps-Rangers game tonight.
Giuliani was spotted by reader @madcaps, who snapped a picture of the politician on the lower concourse.
