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Washington Capitals beat St. Louis Blues on Nicklas Backstrom game-winner

By Michael Marzzacco

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 18: Nicklas Backstrom #19 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period of a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 18: Nicklas Backstrom #19 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal against the St. Louis Blues during the third period of a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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On Monday night it was Tom Wilson. On Wednesday, Nicklas Backstrom came through for a preseason Washington Capitals game filled with many varsity members.

Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, Radko Gudas, Jakub Vrana, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Carl Hagelin. Those names and other high profile Washington Capitals players were on the ice on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena.

In a matchup between the last two Stanley Cup champions, two teams who will take the ice to begin the season in two weeks time, the Caps prevailed over the St. Louis Blues 3-2 with two clutch goals late in the third period.

The Blues struck first in the opening period from Austin Pganski at 13:37. 1-0 St. Louis was the score after one and shots were even at 10 apiece.

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Radko Gudas scored his first goal as a member of the Capitals in the second period at 7:15 on a great bang bang play in front of the net. After Alex Ovechkin ripped off a shot towards the net. Brett Leason couldn’t bury the rebound but Gudas was at the right place at the right time.

1-1 would be the score after two periods. The Caps outshot the Blues 13-9 in the middle stanza. Zach Sanford, a former Capital that got traded to the Blues for Kevin Shattenkirk a couple of seasons ago, scored to give the Blues the lead right back at 2:05 in the third period.

The Caps trailed 2-1 throughout the third period but got a golden opportunity with a power play late in the game. Robby Fabbri was called for boarding Carl Hagelin at 17:40, giving Washington the man advantage.

With one minute to go, another newcomer scored their first goal. This time it was Richard Panik. Panik was in front of the net as John Carlson sent in a slapshot blaster. As the puck bounced off the dasher boards, Panik shot the puck right past Blues netminder Evan Fitzpatrick, who was splitting netminding duties with Jordan Binnington.

It looked like it would go to overtime for the second preseason game in a row. But Nicklas Backstrom said not so fast! On a shot from way downtown he got it past Fitzpatrick. Wild.

On the goaltending side for the Capitals, Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov split duties. Vanecek, who started the game, stopped 13-of-14 for a .929 save percentage. Samsonov finished things out and stopped 12-of-13 for a save percentage of .923.

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The Capitals will continue their preseason on Saturday night as they host the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. Expect the first round of roster cuts to take place at some point in the next day or so.

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