The Washington Capitals had several lapses in focus and effort in their two recent overtime losses, to the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday and a terrible late collapse in Winnipeg to the Jets on Tuesday. The good news was they managed to get a point in each of those games; the bad news was they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in “The Peg” giving up a shorthanded tying goal with 14 seconds left and then losing in the extra frame.
Heading into Thursday’s tilt in Minnesota, a place where the Wild were 10-0-3 in their last 13 games and were carrying the best home record in the NHL, the Capitals effort and focus was not a problem.
Yes, they were ticked about losing two games in a row, but as predicted on Twitter (@EdFrankovic), I knew they would be ready to go in this affair against the Wild since it was tilt #1 with their Dads in attendance. Washington almost always plays well with their fathers in the barn; they were 12-5 on the Dads Trip heading into this one at the Xcel Energy Center.
After a brilliant team effort, there were no passengers from the guys in white, Washington rode their top line for four goals and Andre Burakovsky (1 goal, 1 assist) turned in his best game of the season in a 5-2 victory. Philipp Grubauer was given the start in net and he was really sharp, making some outstanding saves whenever the Wild threatened to get within a goal.
The triumph improves the Capitals to 33-17-7 (73 points) and they are three points up on second place Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins have played two more games than Washington, who have 25 contests left to play before the post season.
Here are seven thoughts and analysis on this huge win.
Broken Record Ovechkin was outstanding again in this affair and he continued his mastery over Devan Dubnyk. The Gr8 notched four points with a goal and three helpers and he now has 1,100 points in his career. For the game Alex had 13 shot attempts (seven on net) and was +4 in 17:48. Ovi’s goal was the result of a great forecheck by Lars Eller and Burakovsky, but Alexander the Great also found a soft spot in the Wild defense. His shot is the best in the league, primarily because he gets it off quickly and hard from the toughest positions. Dubnyk thought he had that one, but it went five hole to give Washington a 2-0 lead just six minutes into period two. After the Wild cut it to 3-1 in period three, Ovi took a sweet feed from Wilson and fired it on net with just under five minutes to go. The Wild goalie, who was red hot coming into this match up, bobbled the hard shot and Nicklas Backstrom (1 goal, 1 assist) was there for the rebound tally. All season long Ovechkin has been the biggest reason this team is in first place, so he’s the MVP of the league in my book. I’ve said it so often, but it’s the truth and he now has 65 points (34 G, 31 A) in 57 games.
Redemption Backstrom was a big factor when the Caps lost the late lead on Tuesday night. He had a lazy back check on the goal that made it 3-2 with just under six minutes left to give the Jets life. Then his bad backhanded pass to no one up the boards late in regulation combined with his inability to tie up his man in the slot, caused the tying goal. Hey, over the course of 82 games, especially in mid February when the playoffs are two months away, it’s easy to lose focus and not put out maximum effort. It happens.That was not a problem for Nicky in Minny with his dad in the rink. He and Ovechkin have been clicking together pretty much all season when assembled on the same line and they did it again against Bruce Boudreau’s squad. Fittingly, Bruce was the first one to put those two together to start the magic.
Wilson. Wilson. Willlllssssooonnn! Top line Tommy really got the team going in the second period with his early marker. As the great Alan May pointed out, the Caps went over eight minutes without a shot at the end of period one, but in the first minute of the middle frame #43 fired from the top of the left wing circle through the Wild defender and it eluded Dubnyk top shelf for a 1-0 lead. That really rattled the opposing goalie and got Washington going. It was Wilson’s eighth goal of the season, which set a career high, at the time. On the Caps fourth goal, Willy jumped up and went all Wilt Chamberlain to bat a puck down. The biscuit hit the Wild defender and Tom alertly snagged it and fed Ovi for his rocket that led to Backstrom’s rebound tally. Then, after Minnesota received a cheap call on Brooks Orpik and scored on the power play with 3:12 left, Wilson sealed the deal into the empty net for his new career high ninth marker of the campaign. With 25 games to go, you can bet that he’ll be in double figures before this year is out. Wilson, by the way, is a restricted free agent this summer. Cha-ching!
Grubi Dooby Doo! It was Grubi vs. Dubby on Thursday night and #31 was clearly the better keeper in this affair. Philipp has played well in many of his starts this season, although he probably still wants the game winning goal he allowed to Vegas back from two Sundays ago. In Minnesota, he was solid and very timely with some key saves, especially on the power play after the Wild made it 3-1. Most notable was a big stop and then strong push to his right to thwart an immediate rebound chance on a Wild power play. You could just feel a lot of wind come out of the sails of the Wild’s boat after that back to back sequence when the Caps were on the PK.
Ranger Dan Strikes Again I’ve never been a fan of Dan O’Halloran, especially since game two of the Caps 2015 second round playoff game against the Rangers where he gave New York three power plays in the first period to allow Henrik Lundqvist and company to steal that contest. In Thursday’s game, the Capitals carried much of the play, but somehow came out on the short end of the power play totals, five to two. Yes, one of the penalties was an automatic puck over the glass on Eller, but there were some big missed calls in the third period that nearly allowed the Wild to get back in the game. O’Halloran didn’t whistle a blatant cross check by Zack Parise on Dmitry Orlov after a net scramble when it was 3-1 and then when it was 4-1, Tyler Ennis elbowed Orpik right in the freaking mind, for all of you Slap Shot fans out there, and he didn’t call it. When #44 went after Ennis, it was Brooks who somehow ended up in the box when Washington should’ve been on at least a two minute power play for a clear head shot. Hopefully the Department of Player Safety takes a look at that and doles punishment out to Ennis, otherwise we should just call them Clowns ‘R Us from now on.
Return of Andre the Giant I’ve been very hard on Evgeny Kuznetsov this season for his inconsistent effort, but second in line in that department has been Burakovsky. Yes, he suffered a bad thumb injury that put him on the shelf for six weeks early on, but outside of a very good game in Dallas back in December, he’s been missing in action. With his dad, Robert (former NHLer), in the building for this one, #65 played by far his best game since game six of the Penguins series last spring. Andre was moving his feet and as I tweeted in the period two, he was skating with confidence. That confidence led to an all world end to end rush goal early in period three that gave the Caps a three puck lead. Taking passes from Grubauer and Brett Connolly, the 23 year old Swede with an NHL body and talent, skated behind his own net and then took off like a rocket down the ice. He pretty much went through the entire Minnesota team and wristed one over Dubnyk’s glove between the circles to stun their opponents. It was a sweet goal made by some strong defensive zone play and exceptionally powerful skating. If the Caps get Burakovsky going down the stretch that would really help them hold off the Penguins in the Metro division race. It’s good to see that type of game from Andre, now he needs to build off of that and really be a consistent difference maker like he was on Thursday.
Notes: The Dads Trip continues in the Windy City on Saturday night at 8:30. The Blackhawks have been struggling and after losing to the Ducks, 3-2, on Thursday, they are 12 points out of a playoff spot. Chicago still has Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith, but goalie Corey Crawford has been out injured and that has really hurt this squad…the Caps were out shot attempted, 57-49, but unlike the game in Winnipeg, they did not sit back with a two goal lead, they kept trying to score and as a result, despite O’Halloran’s incompetence, they were never really in big trouble of blowing the lead…John Carlson (+3) led the Capitals in ice time with 23:09…Taylor Chorney played his first game in over a month and logged 13:51. Madison Bowey was the defensive scratch while Alex Chiasson sat at forward. On the Dads Trip, everyone plays, so those two will be in the lineup against Chicago and the Holtbeast will be in the cage…the Caps lost the face off battle, 39-29. Jay Beagle, who was shaken up by Dustin Byfuglien’s dirty two handed slash to the midsection on Tuesday, a move that prevented #83 from feeding Oshie for an easy empty net game clincher, was 10-6. I’ve never been a D-Buff fan and I hope Wilson or Orpik beats his brains in when the Jets come to town next month as payback for that crap he pulled on Beags.
