Ah, yes. Another day, another Washington Capitals win in the gutsiest possible fashion.
If you missed this one — you’re going to want to catch the highlights, at the very least. It was a fun one.
Still missing Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov due to COVID protocol — and now missing Lars Eller due to an upper-body injury as well, thanks to that ugly hit-from-behind by New York’s Leo Komarov in Tuesday’s game — the Capitals fell behind 3-0 in the 1st period on goals by New York forwards Oliver Wahlstrom, Casey Cizikas, and Anders Lee. Honestly, none of the goals could be blamed on Caps netminder Vitek Vanecek, who we will talk about more in just a minute.
But flukey goals or not, the Caps found themselves in an 0-3 hole and with many of their best players still out of the lineup (thankfully, Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson were both able to return for this one).
Enter: That vaunted Capitals’ depth that we’ve found ourselves talking so much about in recent weeks.
The barrage began around the midway point of the 2nd period, with a Conor Sheary goal (his 1st as a Cap!) that kicked off a run of 4 Caps’ goals in 5 minutes and 9 seconds — and 6 unanswered goals total from the boys in red to finish the game. The Islanders did not score again after taking a 3-0 lead in the 1st period.
SCORING NOTES:
- As we mentioned above, new Caps forward Conor Sheary got the party started in the 2nd period with his 1st goal with his new team — a beautiful quick turn-and-fire wrister that beat Semyon Varlamov low. Varlamov has been phenomenal in general so far this season — but not against the Caps, who have beaten him 9 times in 2 games. Assists to John Carlson & Brenden Dillon.
- Sheary – having gotten his *1st* goal as a Cap out of the way – scored again 1 minute and 13 seconds later, this time making a nifty deflection on a Zdeno Chara shot from the point. Varlamov honestly had no chance on this one. It was a perfect deflection. Assists to Chara & Richard Panik.
- Then 51 seconds after that, Garnet Hathaway would take a sick aerial pass from Carl Hagelin and break in down the right wing, beating Varlamov with a shot to tie the game. And Hathaway’s celly was perhaps even more epic than the goal itself — first, he crashed into the boards immediately after scoring, having been taken down by the nearest Islander. Unfazed, he simply celebrated while on his back on the ice. And then he followed it up by *really* enjoying his goal song – “What Is Love” by Haddaway – on the bench afterwards, which – thankfully for us – the cameras were there to catch. I love me some Garnet Hathaway, you guys. I can’t believe the Calgary Flames ever let this guy go. Finders keepers, losers weepers, Calgary. Assists to Hagelin & Nic Dowd.
- Just a few minutes later, Carlson would rip in a one-timer from The Ovechkin Spot on the power play, giving the Caps a 4-3 lead. The Caps’ power play went 2-for-3 on the night and is clicking at a ridiculous 41.2% on the season, good for 3rd in the league. Assists to Justin Schultz & Nicklas Backstrom.
- Chara would then cap off the 5-goal 2nd period with a booming slap shot from the point for his 1st goal as a Cap, which resulted in one of the best goal celebrations we’ve ever seen in the history of sports. Chara immediately skated straight over to the bench to celebrate with all of his teammates, and he was eagerly mobbed by all 20 of them as they jumped up and down showing their excitement for the man they call “Big Zee”. It’s hard to believe, but it was actually Chara’s first goal since November of 2019 and – given how things ended a bit unceremoniously with the Boston Bruins – it was clear that his new teammates were over the moon with excitement for him, and wanted to show their appreciation toward him. And the love is mutual, with Chara saying after the game “I returned to the bench to the guys right away because I just wanted to share that joy and excitement with them. Since Day 1, they’ve really done an amazing job welcoming me and making the transition as easy and simple as possible for me. I owe it to them and I can’t thank them enough for accepting me in this group and welcoming me like they did. It’s a great group of guys. We’re having fun. We’re working hard and we’re pushing each other to be better. That’s what it’s all about.” Anyways… Assists to Schultz & Hershey Bears call-up Michael Sgarbossa.
- Tom Wilson would score the only goal of the 3rd period, into the empty net with the Isles’ goalie pulled for the extra attacker. Assists to TJ Oshie & Backstrom.
Barry Trotz was not very pleased with his Isles after the game — or after these last two games, for that matter (you’ll remember the Caps also beat the Isles in regulation on Tuesday, after Justin Schultz scored the go-ahead – and game-winning – goal with just 26 seconds remaining in the 3rd period). But he did have a lot of nice things to say about his former team, praising the Caps’ “character” in coming back.
Some other notes following the win:
- The Caps have set a new franchise record with points in 8-straight games to begin a season (5-0-3). They are one of only four remaining teams who have yet to lose in regulation this season (Caps, Canadiens, Stars, and Panthers — although the Stars and Panthers have played just 4 games apiece to this point).
- Vitek Vanecek stopped 27 shots to earn his 4th win of the young season. He is 2nd in the NHL in wins. He is not getting enough attention. #VitekForCalder
- Defenseman Justin Schultz – who has been an awesome addition for the Caps – was injured during Thursday’s win against the Isles after taking a puck up high. It was a scary incident, but head coach Peter Laviolette said Friday that the outcome wasn’t as bad as they initially expected, and that Schultz is considered “day-to-day”. So that’s relatively good news. Hopefully he won’t have to miss too much time. He had 2 primary assists in the game Thursday before getting injured, and he was riding a streak where he had multiple points in 3-straight games (2 goals, 4 assists over that span). He is also a ridiculous +9 through 8 games… Good for 2nd in the entire NHL. So yeah. He’s kind of good. Not really sure what Shittsburgh was thinking there.
The Caps’ next game is Saturday, 7pm EST/4pm PST against the Boston Bruins. David Pastrnak is likely to return for the Bruins, while there is still no word on whether or not Alex Ovechkin & Co. will be available for the Caps. At the time of writing, all four – Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Orlov, and Samsonov – are still listed on the NHL’s COVID list, which would make them unavailable as of now. Lars Eller and Justin Schultz are both day-to-day.
