Courtesy: Brad Mills – USA TODAY Sports
WASHINGTON — Ironically enough, this was the same result in the last game between these two clubs, only this time the Washington Capitals took the Montreal Canadiens to a shootout and won in front of their home crowd 3-2.
It looked as if the Capitals were poised for another long night as they only tallied four shots in the first period to the Canadiens’ 13. There was a period of time when head coach Adam Oates benched defenseman Alexander Urbom after just three shifts and 2:15 seconds of ice time, but also for the last 15:40 of the first period, Washington was held without a shot.
Luckily, the Capitals were able to come alive in their best period, the second period, where they are now outscoring opponents 33-23 during the 2013-14 NHL season. Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom didn’t have his best game Friday as he went to the box twice and was off the scoring sheet, but he was proud of his team’s ability to respond.
“It’s good to come back and it feels nice to get two points,” Backstrom said. “We’ve got guys in the locker room that speak up.”
Two guys in particular took their games to another level tonight as forwards Mikhail Grabovski and Eric Fehr added a goal and an assist each in a game where Washington desperately needed a win. The feed Fehr set up Grabovski with in the third was simply a beauty and the finish was pretty stellar as well. Fehr’s goal was an effort play where he simply wanted the puck more than his opponent.
“I thought we played a lot more physical,” Fehr said about his team’s ability to come back against the Canadiens. “I think that was a bigger reason why we came back. We got physical on their D, forced a few more turnovers and a lot harder on their forwards. We weren’t letting them spin off us and I think that was a big part to the second half of the game.”
“He’s a great player,” Grabovski told reporters when asked about Eric Fehr on the second line. “He plays with a lot of heart and it gives us chemsitry.”
Despite the win, there were still some things Washington has to work on going forward if they want to improve as a hockey team. Defensively, they looked lazy, especially in the first period. The Capitals had zone time, but failed to stick to the basics and got too cute losing possession of the puck. It prohibited them from challenging Montreal’s goalie Peter Budaj, who was once again stellar tonight with 24 saves. Washington’s captain Alexander Ovechkin was once again held scoreless and talked about how his team needs to push the pace more.
“We spent lots of time in our offensive zone,” Ovechkin said. “Of course we made a couple mistakes, but right now, it’s two points and we’ll take it.”
The story of the night for the Capitals was the first star of the game Washington goalie Braden Holtby. Oates said while Michal Neuvirth was slated to start, he slipped on a puck as he was walking out of the tunnel and Holtby was given the nod. Despite the short notice, Holtby stood tall with 35 saves and propelled the Capitals in the shootout.
“It’s not as bad as it seems,” Holtby said in reaction to his call to start between the pipes. “First, you have adrenaline to kind of automatically get your head in the game. The preparation is more for consistency to not have a don game. So, if there’s only one out of how many that you can prepare the same, there’s still things you can do to make sure try and battle as hard as you can and be sharp. It’s not as big of a factor as you think.”
Just like the last time these two teams met, a lot of effort was expounded to try and keep up with the fast and energetic Canadiens. Even though both of these teams have a game Saturday night, Oates was proud of the was his team was able to win a difficult hockey game.
“We talk about the same things every night,” Oates said. “They had some shots in the first; we gave them a goal, but otherwise not much else. We talk about all the time how the way to win games in this league right now… it’s really difficult. Their goalie [Budaj] played great… he played great last time in here; both goalies did tonight. You’ve got to grind it out. You’ve got to be willing to grind it out. The second half of the game, we did a better job of doing that.”
Although it is almost just a third of the way into the 2013-14 campaign, Washington always has the playoffs on their minds. Defenseman Karl Alzner said a win like this is what builds a team’s confidence.
“We don’t care at this point,” Alzner said about getting wins in any which way. “It’s clear we’re not going to win all these games pretty. It’s just going to have to be ‘whatever happens happens’. [We] might as well start thinking playoff mentality right away. We don’t care how we win then, so why would we care now?”
Washington has a short time to enjoy this win as they travel to Long Island, New York to face the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Face-off is slated for 7 p.m.
Notes: Michal Neuvirth’s injury remained undisclosed outside of a lower-body injury. No timetable has been set for how long he will be out, but he will receive an MRI. The Capitals’ AHL affiliate played tonight, so it remains to be seen as to who will get the call to New York and possibly in net tomorrow for Washington.
