Courtesy: Washington Post
WASHINGTON — With the slow start to the 2013-14 season, many would not have predicted the Washington Capitals to eclipse the Pittsburgh Penguins at this stage of the game for first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Sunday night, Washington did just that by taking advantage of a St. Louis Blues team that had a long flight and played the night before against the Carolina Hurricanes at home as the Capitals came out of Verizon Center victorious 4-1. The Capitals handed the Blues just their third regulation loss of the 2013-14 season in the 19 games they’ve played so far.
“I think we’re really happy about this one,” Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom said. “We know they’re a great team… obviously, they played last night and had a long flight. We were aware of that and we wanted to come out hard. We had a lot of shots from the blue line, but Holts was solid.”
And that he was. Anytime a goaltender can put together a 46-save performance, they have to pat themselves on the back a little bit for a victory over a good hockey team like the Blues. Washington goalie Braden Holtby isn’t that kind of player and jokingly told the media that it wasn’t his best game in net and not really that close. The 24-year-old described it as virtually being just another game against a team that tries to impose their will on opponents.
“They throw a lot of pucks to the net,” Holtby said. “Their gameplan is to get traffic, rebounds. Every game is different. Some games, you get 20 shots, a lot of them are scoring chances. Games like that are ones you just battle through traffic. I thought we did a good job of getting sticks [on the puck]; we got lucky with a few deflections that didn’t and we stopped their gameplan.”
Head coach Adam Oates said it best at his post-game presser in that he felt the stat sheet wasn’t indicative of just how well his guys played. 47 shots are 47 shots, but Washington earned the win over a tough Blues team that has depth across all lines and defensive pairings.
“I told the guys we expected them to be a little tired, but I don’t think those goals came from fatigue,” Oates said. “I think we got rewarded by doing the right things. Sometimes, that’s going to happen and sometimes it’s not. Ovi misses on the first goal, but we still made up the correct play. Tonight, they went in. As a team, we did the right thing. [Through] the course of the game, they honestly didn’t look tired; they generated a lot of shots, they got behind and they’re a good hockey team.”
Two of the shining stars once again the for the Capitals were captain Alexander Ovechkin and defenseman John Carlson.
Ovechkin netted two goals and is now tied for the NHL lead in goals scored with St. Louis Blues forward Alexander Steen with 17 goals — Steen was held scoreless Sunday night. Despite his two early goals and fast start, Ovechkin wasn’t patting himself on the back before he gave credits to his mates in what he viewed as a total team effort.
“It means a lot; it’s nice to score big goals,” Ovechkin told reporters in regards to being tied atop the NHL goals statistic this early. “But, it was a very good team effort today, especially in the first period. We just have to play like that all the time.”
Ovechkin and Backstrom find themselves tied-fourth overall in points in the NHL with 24 total points and Backstrom is second in assists with 19. The two have a chemistry that is unlike any other in the NHL and they find ways to create scoring chances from anywhere in the opposing zone.
“There’s a little chemistry involved in that,” Adam Oates told reporters in regards to Backstrom’s feed to Ovechkin on his first goal of the night. “I kind of expect that from [Nicklas].”
Courtesy: Monumental Sports Network
It’s easy to look to Backstrom and Ovechkin and credit them with victories, but once again, John Carlson stood tall as well as defenseman Mike Green missed his second game in a row due to a lower body contusion. Carlson was all over the ice and skated real well in a game where he needed to against this high-powered Blues offense — St. Louis entered the game as the NHL’s No. 1 scoring team and power play. Carlson added yet another power play goal and now has five on the season,but the amount of minutes he is logging and the way there has been no dropoff from Mike Green to him in the top defenseman role really says a lot about him as a player. Carlson was pleased that his team was able to pass the litmus test that is the Blues.
“It’s a good test for us,” Carlson told reporters. “We knew their situation, but I thought we need to do what our gameplan is every night to give ourselves the best chance and we did that tonight.”
Oates has noticed Carlson elevate his play as well and feels he maybe deserving for a spot on Team USA in the Sochi Winter Olympics.
“If you watch all year, but really the last 10 games, I don’t think there would be any question,” Oates said of Carlson’s consideration for the team. “He played 32-and-a-half the other night; him and [Alzner] have been shutdown guys. They both play fantastic hockey. With Greeny out, he’s now doing PP; he’s got five goals now. He’s playing great hockey”
The Capitals in general are playing great as they’ve grabbed their seventh win in their last 10 games and find themselves atop the Metropolitan Division. They will face the second place team and their toughest rival the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night for “Rivalry Night”. The opening face-off is at 8 PM and the game can be found on the NBC Sports Network.
Notes: With a power play assist in Sunday’s game, Nicklas Backstrom has passed Scott Stevens on the Capitals’ all-time power play assist list with 137. Adam Oates told reporters after the game that the move to place Mike Green on injured reserve doesn’t mean he will miss significant time as he can return to action as early as Wednesday night versus Pittsburgh. In correspondence with the roster move, the Capitals recalled defenseman Dmitry Orlov from Hershey to fill the void on the 23-man roster. It was surprising to see Eric Fehr once again as a healthy scratch from the lineup Sunday night,as well as Jay Beagle, who hasn’t seem game action since October. Also, former Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette was in attendence in the Capitals’ press box scouting for Team USA.
