Courtesy: USA TODAY
Tuesday night was a great night for the Washington Capitals for many reasons, but mostly because their captain Alexander Ovechkin returned in a big way scoring two goals and adding one assist in a 6-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Verizon Center.
While the Islanders saw solid contributions from two of their stars in John Tavares and Kyle Okposo, that was virtually all they could hang their heads on as the return of Ovechkin lead to a big night for the boys in red.
The top line of Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson had a combined eight points Tuesday night and it just goes to show that they were looking to build off of the momentum they established in Ovechkin’s absence. While Backstrom was scoreless and resorted back to more of his playmaker role with three assists, the Capitals were relentless and finding ways to create scoring chances all over the ice.
It also has to be encouraging for Capitals head coach Adam Oates to see nine different players tally points against a solid Islanders team. Defenseman Alexander Urbom netted his first goal as a member of the Capitals, while forward Tom Wilson recorded his first NHL goal and received a nice shaving cream pie in the face from Ovechkin as he was being interviewed by reporters following the blowout victory.
Seeing guys like Wilson go outside of their brawler role and grind out a goal on the fourth line makes any general manager happy, especially considering Washington’s GM George McPhee informed Wilson of his status with the team a few weeks ago, letting him know that he will not know what Hershey, Pennsylvania looks like for the rest of the 2013-14 season.
People watching the game also have to take notice that Washington’s blue-liners are starting to become more active offensively as defenseman John Carlson scored his second goal in two games. The 23-year-old entered last Saturday’s contest against the Florida Panthers without lighting up the lamp at any point before that contest. Since then, he’s been more aggressive with his shot attempts and the bounces seem to be finding twine and going his way more often than not. One would have to wonder when Mike Green is going to break his goalless streak, but given the amount of shots he takes each game and also the way that he plays for deflections, it is only a matter of time for the assistant captain.
Washington looked poised and had an entirely different energy level with Ovechkin back in the lineup. It would be nice to see that continue as the Minnesota Wild come to town Thursday night. Face-off is scheduled for 7 PM and it should be interesting to see the turnout for the game given that the Washington Redskins take on the Minnesota Vikings at 8:25 PM on Thursday Night Football that same night.
