Courtesy: Tommy Gilligan – USA TODAY Sports
WASHINGTON — After a historic night in Raleigh, NC for Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals gift-wrapped an early Christmas present for the New Jersey Devils as they fell to their Metropolitan Division opposition 5-4 just 43 seconds into the overtime period.
Washington founds themselves up 3-1 after the second stanza as they have now outscored opponents 50-35 in the second period. Traditionally, the Capitals fair well in such games as they were 11-0-1 when leading after two periods while the Devils were 4-11-1 when trailing after the second entering Saturday’s game. Unfortunately, they let this one get away from them.
Washington gave up a power play goal at 5:28 of the third period to forward Jaromir Jagr — Jagr tied Mark Messier for seventh all-time on the NHL goals list with 694; the 41-year-old had a three-point night (1 goal, 2 assists) — but Ovechkin brought his team’s lead back to two. The downward spiral ensued after.
“I don’t think so,” Capitals forward Joel Ward said when asked if he thought his team relaxed after Alexander Ovechkin’s goal in the third period. “I don’t think it was relaxed. They scored a timely goal [1:14 after Ovechkin’s]. We needed to kill on the penalty kill. We kind of gave them a little bit of momentum to get back into it. They just capitalized on their chances.”
“They worked hard down low on us,” defenseman Mike Green said. “[After the second period, we said] we’ve got to keep doing the same thing. We played a good 40 minutes tonight, but I’d say we needed 60.”
After just seven shots in the first period, New Jersey laid a barrage of 28 shots towards Braden Holtby as they dictated the pace of the hockey game offensively. While the Capitals made the most of their chances, defensively they played lax and it showed with their play along the walls. Forwards and defenseman alike weren’t possessing the puck and allowed the Devils to meander through the slot with relative ease. Despite Braden Holtby giving up five goals in the contest, head coach Adam Oates doesn’t put the loss entirely on his shoulders.
“I thought he played pretty good today,” Oates said on behalf of his netminder. “I can’t fault him on all of the goals.”
Oates didn’t have much else to say as he knows his team’s effort dipped off as regulation was coming to an end. Another recurring problem for the Capitals in this game was their inability to prevent opponents from quick response goals after they get a goal of their own to further their chances. After Washington built a 4-2 lead, New Jersey scored two goals over the next 3:30 in the third period with Marek Zidlicky’s second tally of the night and former Capitals forward Dainius Zubrus’ goal. Oates doesn’t know what to make of his team’s defensive lapse following an offensive put-in.
“Unfortunately, it’s the same cliche… I wish I had a better answer for you,” Oates told reporters. “We talk about it. I’m talking to the line as they go on the ice. You gotta execute, get behind them and just kind of keep the ball rolling and sometimes we do a better job than others and tonight obviously we didn’t.”
Ovechkin tallied his 30th goal of the season tonight, putting him at 401 career goals in the NHL. Ovechkin has played 34 games this season and is currently on pace for 68 in 2013-14. In the abridged 2012-13 season, Ovechkin had just 32 goals in 48 games. No other player in the National Hockey League has 30 or more goals in every season since 2005-06 as the 28-year-old finds himself with yet another milestone he can add to his resume. However, the Russian wasn’t all smiles after the loss and felt his team got a little behind the eight ball in terms of cashing in on what should have been a division win — Washington is now 8-6-0 when facing Metropolitan divisional opponents.
“It’s a tough loss,” Ovechkin said. “We’re losing the game, we get the lead 3-1, then 4-2. We made mistakes in our zone. We needed more time to control the puck. It was 4-2 tonight. It may be luck.”
Luck or not, Capitals forward Jason Chimera is taking this defeat as well as any human being could take it. He talked about how his line, while active offensively, didn’t perform on both ends of the ice and allowed too many opportunities defensively. That being said, anytime a team can salvage a point on any given day in the NHL, there is something positive to salvage.
“We got a point out of it… it’s not like it’s the end of the world,” Chimera said. “They’re a good team and they were playing desperate. They started throwing a lot at the net. Three out of four points over the weekend is not too bad. Obviously, it was disappointing, but you’ve got to move on and get ready for the next one.”
Next up is a familiar face as Bruce Boudreau and the white hot Anaheim Ducks travel to Washington D.C. for the Monday night soiree before the NHL takes off for the Christmas holiday.
Notes: Hits were 29 a piece between the two clubs. Washington dominated in the face-off circle 29-18. New Jersey had nine giveaways and four takeaways, while Washington had seven giveaways and 11 takeaways. The Capitals went 0-1 on the power play and 1-2 on the penalty kill. Washington blocked 21 shots; New Jersey blocked eight. Defenseman John Carlson was on the ice for all five of New Jersey’s goals and defenseman Karl Alzner was present for four.
