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Washington Capitals dominate Chicago Blackhawks

By Michael Marzzacco

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 25: Liam O'Brien #87 of the Washington Capitals celebrates a first period goal with teammates including (L-R) Chandler Stephenson, Colby Williams #38 and Richard Panik #14 during a preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawksat United Center on September 25, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 25: Liam O'Brien #87 of the Washington Capitals celebrates a first period goal with teammates including (L-R) Chandler Stephenson, Colby Williams #38 and Richard Panik #14 during a preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawksat United Center on September 25, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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The Washington Capitals not only defeated the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. They flat out spanked them on their home ice.

Although it was preseason, everything strength the Washington Capitals could show this season was on display.

The offense was clicking, the defense was clicking, the penalty kill was on point, and the 1-2 goalie tandem of Braden Holtby and Pheonix Copley took care of the rest.

The Capitals first struck at 4:45 after Chandler Stephenson got the puck up to Colby Williams. Liam O’Brien positioned himself near the net and tapped it in to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead.

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The Capitals doubled that lead by continuing to be pesky around the net. There were no deflections here, however, John Carlson redeemed himself. After missing his initial shot, Alex Ovechkin grabbed the puck, circled around the back and found Carlson for a one-time blast.

The Capitals killed both penalties they faced and outshot the Blackhawks 10-7 to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room after 20.

Washington faced another penalty at 3:31 when Tyler Lewington was sent to the sin bin for slashing. Not only did the penalty kill stand tall once more, they also got a shorthanded goal from Tom Wilson, his second of the preseason. You may remember last week when he scored the game-winner in overtime to defeat Chicago in the preseason opener.

Lars Eller lit the lamp twice with two great drives to the net. One week ago he suffered a concussion, and Wednesday night he was back in action for his preseason debut.

His first goal came on a great play where he outmuscled Erik Gustafsson in front of the net and deflected in a shot from Carlson to make it 4-0 which would be the score through two periods. The Capitals were outshot 13-6 in the second period but were in prime position to add a few more goals for good measure.

Jakub Vrana made it 5-0 at 11:55 in the third with a wicked shot after a no-look pass from Eller. Vrana placed it perfectly between two defenders and his snapshot went right over the catching glove of Blackhawks netminder Corey Crawford.

Eller was stellar in our sneak peek of the second line for the first three regular season games and slammed home a rebound from a shot by T.J. Oshie to complete the touchdown.

Copley and Holtby each combined for 22 saves though Copley had his work cut out for him stopping 17 of those 22.

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The Capitals will head to St. Louis for the penultimate game of the preseason and a second to last tuneup before they go back there for opening night.

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