Capitals down Ducks 5-2
The Washington Capitals defeated the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
Unlike one year ago, the Washington Capitals held on and fended off a late Anaheim Ducks rally to win 5-2. The win improves Washington’s record to 16-3-4 as they remain not only atop the Metropolitan Division but the entire NHL with the best record and 36 points, a seven-point separation from the likes of four other teams tied for second in the NHL.
Before the game, coach Todd Reirden moved Travis Boyd up to the third line after a solid first game back with the Capitals the other night. Boyd scored Saturday against the Bruins and on Monday night had a great set up behind the net for Richard Panik‘s first goal as a member of the Caps. His wrister went top shelf and the Caps were up 1-0 just 50 seconds into the game. Lars Eller had the secondary.
1-0 was the score after 20 with the Capitals having the edge in shots 12-7.
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In the second period, the Caps got a power play opportunity at 6:19 when Carter Rowney slashed Jakub Vrana. 20 seconds later they cashed in on an Alex Ovechkin goal from the office for his 15th of the season. Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson had the helpers.
The Capitals made it 3-0 but not without some craziness going on. Tensions were high between the two teams as the game went on and towards the end of the second period, Chandler Stephenson scored on a wrister off a pass from Garnet Hathaway.
Just before the goal, Brendan Leipsic laid out a hit near the crease and the fights were on between both clubs. After Hathaway’s setup he jumped in there. After getting a few right hooks on Derek Grant, officials separated him as the chaos kept going. Hathaway would receive the harshest of punishments when all was said and done.
Hathaway was given a match penalty ejecting him from the game. This came after he spit on Erik Gudbranson. He’s suspended until he meets with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman this week.
Shots were even at 12 as the second period ended with the Caps up 3-0 heading into the second intermission.
Vrana made it 4-0 with 5:44, following through on his own rebound in front of the net for his 10th goal of the season. 4-0 against a .500 team seems like a safe lead, right?
Not quite. Last year the Capitals blew a 5-1 lead to the Ducks before collapsing at the end. The Ducks once again made a late push this year to make things interesting. Sam Steel got the Ducks on the board at 13:31 and Nicolas Deslauriers cut the deficit in half with under two minutes to play at 18:11. We all know two goal leads are dangerous.
Despite this though the Capitals sealed the win with an empty net no-look goal from Tom Wilson assisted by Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom. 5-2 would be the final.
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The Caps were outshot 15-7 in the third and even though Braden Holtby‘s shutout bid ended, the Caps netminder played a solid game and even earned the first star of the game. Holtby made 32 saves for a .941 save percentage.