The Washington Capitals burst to an early lead against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night, but then they let the players from the capital of the great state of Canada creep back into the game, and so we had an exciting finish. Too exciting.
To start, Connor McMichael grabbed a greasy goal, getting cozy with Sens goalie Linus Ullmark but without interfering. Two minutes later he did it again, setting up Pierre-Luc Dubois for a beaut.
In the second period, Tom Wilson got the last touch on a crisp passing sequence to make it 3-0, a shutout eventually shattered by Shane Pinto, on a quick two-on-one break.
Claude Giroux made it one-goal game 65 seconds into the third period, squeaking past Logan Thompson. Then Shane Pinto got on the rush again, tying the game with 12 minutes left. Tom Wilson and Martin Fehervary teamed up for a go-ahead goal, but on a power play in the waning minutes Brady Tkachuk put the rebound in the net to force overtime.
The Caps tried to self-sabotage in overtime, but Logan Thompson wouldn’t let them.
Shootout bullets!
- Dubois did not put the biscuit in the basket
- Batherson did not put the biscuit in the basket
- Stutzle did notput the biscuit in the basket
- Strome put the biscuit in the basket!
- Giroux did not put the biscuit in the basket
Caps win!
- Connor McMichael was a legend in the first period. He was the fastest player on the ice against a very fast team. He had a goal and an assist – both well deserved – before we were even five minutes in. Shocked, shocked, he didn’t get in a fight to earn the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Left that to someone else.
- Tom Wilson was the beneficiary of Ovechkin drawing attention on the power play – one of those fabled power-play wrinkles that will be so crucial down the stretch and into the postseason. With that goal, Wilson has been better than a point-per-game player going all the way back in to late January. He also fought Brady Tkachuk. Ian and I disagree about the quality of that bout, and worse: I feel like – despite our present cultural moment – I still cannot do any good jokes about the combatants.
- With an assist on the Marty goal, Wilson earned his second Gordie Howe Hat Trick. I know what you’re thinking. Only two? Yes, we were surprised too. I went through a ton of his games, and there was one where he had a goal, an assist, and a “fight” that got marked down to a roughing. But only two legit ones, after tonight.
- The refs were calling this tight. Too tight, like a hockey player’s pants, but without much flexibility, unlike a hockey player’s pants. Drake Batherson’s raised elbow against Dowd was a roughing, Lars Eller’s stick getting stepped on was a trip, Ovi slashing Jake Sanderson – okay he definitely slashed Sanderson there. But Nick Jensen was on both sides of soft calls. And one call that could have hurt – a challenge on McMichael’s goal – was overruled. I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t mind a game with a lot of penalties, so long as they’re called along some consistent measure.
- Never mind, they missed a Jensen penalty before the second Pinto goal. I’m a fool, and refs are terrible.
- You know what, I felt a lot better about that “the refs are okay, actually” bullet before the third period. Turns out I was totally wrong. In any case, the Caps need to play a bit smahtah.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois had a great night – until he sent the puck over the glass with 100 seconds left. That deprived us of an Ovechkin ENG opportunity and probably cost a regulation win.
- I think that second Pinto goal went off the stick of Lars Eller, who also got busted for an early penalty. Not his best night. (I’m still a believer.)
- Martin Fehervary blocked a shot with his penis. We’re adults, mostly. I can say it. It’s a medical term. I wonder if he’ll remember tonight as the night he was a goal-scoring hero or the other thing.
- I believe Ottawa tried to challenge the Fehervary goal, unaware perhaps that they had no challenges available. Felt vaguely delay-of-game-y to me. There should be a penalty for that.
- Rasmus Sandin got injured with 11 seconds left in the game, hitting Josh Norris in transition. I think it was unintentional.
- The Caps had the right idea in overtime: don’t give away the puck. But then they did the most Caps thing possible – they put too many men on the ice.
- I thought to myself that this was not a great night from Logan Thompson, but then I saw the Caps’ defensive numbers in the second period. He was fine actually. Brilliant, even, in overtime and the shootout.
I forgot to eat dinner tonight. I’m sure this was an entertaining game if you had normal blood sugar. I did not. The third period and overtime made me feel like I had the flu. All the reversals, the swings in momentum – it felt like so much wasted effort, like a million abandoned podcasts abandoned after just one episode.
As of Monday morning, Washington’s most likely first-round playoff opponent is the Ottawa Senators. Uh oh. They’re kinda good. At the very least they’re fast. And they’ve got Brady Tkachuk to balance out any possible excess in finesse or hockey smahts. That’d be good series. I’d still rather have Detroit. Ha.
The Caps next head up to Manhattan to hang out with ex-bestie Peter Laviolette. But for now, you have to figure out what to do with the extra thirty minutes this early game has left you. Why was the start at 6:30 PM? Threw my entire evening off. What am I going to do now? Read a book?!
