Courtesy: Yahoo! Sports
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals trailed the Calgary Flames 3-0 after one period of action, but bounced back and pulled out victorious in shootout fashion 5-4.
Washington came out sluggish as the lowly Flames chased goaltender Braden Holtby out of the cage before the end of the first period. However, once backup goaltender Michael Neuvirth took his place between the pipes, the Capitals appeared to have been a different team.
Neuvirth played stellar facing 28 shots from Calgary and only allowed one goal on a miscue he and defenseman Mike Green made behind the net when a puck came in on a hard-around along the boards.
As well as Neuvirth played, the power play was once again at the forefront of the discussion led by captain Alexander Ovechkin. The 28-year-old tallied three points yesterday, including two goals, one assist and one of his goals once again came on the vaunted Caps powerplay. Ovechkin knows how great this power play is as they are 5/9 on power play opportunities in their first two games of the NHL regular season.
“In that kind of situation, we know we have the skills,” Ovechkin said. “We have to do what [Adam] Oates asks us to do. That situation and that scenario is something we have to use.”
The Capitals also saw a young player redeem himself in this game in defenseman Connor Carrick. The 19-year-old has struggled on the defensive end in the early stages of the season, but found himself in the bright lights yesterday After getting called for a hooking penalty just 5:21 into the 2nd period, Carrick came out of the box on a breakaway and buried the puck past Flames goaltender Karri Ramo. He is just the fifth Capitals skater in franchise history to net his first career NHL goal in the team’s home opener. Carrick was surprised his goal came off a breakaway.
“I was just going through scenarios in my head,” Carrick said. “The scenario where you come out of the box and score is one you always dream of.”
It was also a stellar performance for winger Marcus Johansson as he achieved his first career three-point performance in the NHL adding three assists to Washington’s four regulation goals.
“It was good to get those helpers there,” Johansson said. “Sometimes, it’s just the small little details that give you a good bounce and that can do it for you. It’s always fun to be a part of it and it’s a pretty good feeling.”
As well as the offense responded an propelled this team in a shootout victory, the Capitals still appeared to struggle in a few areas of the ice.
First, winger Troy Brouwer wasn’t having a lot of success grinding and clearing out space in front of the net. The former Chicago Blackhawk had three opportunities to slip a puck past Ramo, but couldn’t battle and find the muscle to add enough juice on those pucks.
Second, the Capitals were out-skated and outworked by the Flames and it seemed as if the team finally woke up once the second period had began. Each 50-50 puck wasn’t really a battle as the Flames touched up and controlled the possession early on. A better hockey team may have left Washington in the dust and put them on the wrong end of the box score. Head coach Adam Oates addressed the sluggish play following the 5-4 win.
“We really got outworked in the first period,” Oates said. “Maybe, Chicago affected us more than we thought it would. For the first game of the year, it was a pretty emotional game and we fought so hard in the third period to get back and our top dogs played 10 minutes in the third [period] to get back. So, I think we were really flat.”
Finally, the Capitals have been outscored at 5-on-5, even strength situations 7-3 and this issue continues to haunt the Caps as it has in years past. Oates wants this to change and can’t emphasize enough the importance of improving defensively.
“Defensively, we have to sure up a lot of things,” the Capitals head coach said. “We had way too many breakdowns tonight and as I said, I thought we were flat early in the game.”
Oates wanted to re-assure everyone that despite allowing three goals on just 11 shots, he will trot out Holtby between the pipes when the Capitals face the Dallas Stars Saturday night. Also, defenseman Jack Hillen appeared to have suffered a serious right knee injury that was declared a “lower body injury” by the Capitals training staff. Oates wouldn’t give a timetable for a return, nor would he hint at a replacement. One would have to think one of Thursday’s scratches Steve Oleksy will fill the void left by Hillen and he could possibly be paired with fellow young guy Carrick.
