Courtesy: Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby kept Washington in the game the entire night Thursday as his team was able to pull off a come-from-behind victory over the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in shootout fashion.
Holtby was stellar once again stopping 33 of 35 shots faced his way. His movement in the crease was some of the best I had seen all season as the Wild were pressing the Capitals in their own zone from the second period on. The 24-year-old also flashed the glove quite a few times in the showdown between the two teams and even stole some highlight reel saves away from Minnesota’s magnificent netminder Josh Harding — He stopped 25 of 27 shots faced yesterday.
“Tonight I felt better towards the end of the game,” Holtby told reporters. “Rebound control was my greatest asset tonight. I don’t really want to think [I get better when I’m busier]; I just want to be as good as I can be every game.”
After the first period it was tied at one due to an Alexander Ovechkin power play goal. The Washington captain now has 13 goals on the year and is just three goals away from Peter Bondra’s all-time franchise record for power play goals with the Capitals with 137. It seemed like after the Ovechkin goal, Washington seemed to pump the brakes a little bit offensively and allowed Minnesota to dictate the pace of the hockey game.
It was interesting to hear some of the guys’ takes in the locker room because a few guys felt differently about the way the Capitals performed as a collective unit. Winger Troy Brouwer felt as if Washington played superior hockey to Minnesota and earned the right to the 3-2 victory.
“We worked hard for [the win],” Brouwer said. “We did a lot of great things. We killed off a penalty in the last minute and overtime. I feel we deserved to win that game and guys worked hard. It didn’t matter cause it’s a Western Conference team; it doesn’t really matter if we win in regulation or overtime.”
Forward Brooks Laich had a different take on the game as he felt as if his team could have played better across the board.
“We’ll certainly have to play better than we did tonight” Laich said. “Kind of escaped with a win; we’ve had a couple of wins where we were dominant, but tonight we escaped with one. We’ve got to sharpen up a little better.”
Once again, center Nicklas Backstrom was able to display his impressive shot in addition to his great playmaking abilities with unmatched passes as he was able to net the game-winner in the third round of the shootout past Harding. Backstrom has taken more of an offensive approach since Ovechkin’s upper body injury against the Vancouver Canucks forced him out of action in two games against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Florida Panthers — Nicklas scored three goals in the pair of contests. With OVechkin now back in the lineup, that impressive shot isn’t on display as much as it has been, but it still is a quality asset in his repertoire.
“I don’t know… I’ve been practicing a lot,” Backstrom said jokingly when asked about his success in shootouts. “I think I’ve been lucky these three times and I’ve found space on the goals.”
The story of this game, in addition to the top-notch goalie plays, was the play of the penalty kill for the Capitals. While they did surrender a power play goal, they limited the No. 2 power play in the NHL to 1-3 on the man advantage. The penalty kill came up huge at the end of regulation and the start of overtime as they stifled the Minnesota attack following a questionable interference call made on Martin Erat at 19:02 of the third period.
Despite the call, head coach Adam Oates was proud of his guys as they came on top of one of the best defensive team’s in the NHL.
“They’re a frustrating team to play against,” Oates said. “They don’t give you anything. I think what Brooksy [Laich] means is: We kind of shot ourselves in the foot in some situations. They play very passive in some areas and we kept giving them the puck. It’s a frustrating way to play because they back it in and play it in front of the goalie so well, but if you look at the tying goal in the third period, that’s kind of how you have to play against a team like that. They’re opportunistic and they don’t give you anything. Whether you like it or not, that’s the way that you have to play.”
Washington now finds themselves on a four-game winning streak as their season mark improves to 9-7-0. They are set to face the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night on the road.
