Washington Capitals Find Redemption over weekend

The Washington Capitals found the win column while getting revenge on the Dallas Stars from an OT lose earlier in the week, thanks to another standout performance from their future in goal IIya Samsonov.

Are we witnessing a changing of the guard already in this early season? Should the Capitals lean more on their current backup goalie, IIya Samsonov, over the more proven but struggling Braden Holtby?

If you follow their track record so far this season you would be surprised how hard that decision really is. Any other year it would be too outlandish of a thought, but in a contract year which could see Holtby getting more than the Capitals could afford it is worth asking if now is the time.

As stated in the pregame review, since game 2 of the season when Samsonov was last in goal , the Capitals haven’t put together a complete game effort. Saturday night, they got in a complete game where the proverbial foot was on the pedal at all times.

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Now to be clear, I’m not of the thinking that Samsonov is ready to be the number one for a cup contender like the Capitals.  However, the team seems to be playing better in front of him versus the incumbent Holtby. In the same sense, Samsonov appears to be more focused and attentive during the game making it easier for him to react to the sudden changes in possession and all the odd man rushes made by the Stars.

While he is performing well in his two games this season, he still has room to grow. He found himself moving frantically to cover the goal in the first period, but worked to improve his body control better in the remaining time. The promise which made him a 1st round pick by the Capitals is obvious with his athleticism and ability to make up for the frantic body control he displayed early on.

Even on the one score that he let by, it wouldn’t matter who was in net for the shot as there are few who could have kept it out given the angle it took.  And through deeper inspection, it can be attributed more to Faksa beating Orlov around the corner.  But in that sense there was a number of times where Samsonov was lucky to have the puck stay out of the goal.

To consider it actually time to lean more on Samsonov over Holtby it would take a few different things, Holtby’s struggles would have to continue which I doubt will continue all season. It would also take Samsonov continuing to stand on his head, but given the chances he has a tendency toward right now he will eventually be caught overextending himself. As a fan, you most likely have comfort in the future with what Samsonov has shown up to this point.

As for the other facets of the game, the Capitals obviously had the matchup from Tuesday in the back of their minds as they came out swinging. They produced good push early to draw a double minor, resulting in a power play goal from Tom Wilson potting a juicy rebound past backup goalie Anton Khudobin off a hard shot from Vrana.

There was a challenge on the PP goal by WIlson as it appeared he was guilty of a hand pass earlier in the sequence which ended with the goal. Sadly, for the Stars the challenge was unsuccessful resulting in another minor penalty. And sadly for the Capitals, they couldn’t make it count as they were unable to score on the PP even though the Stars were essentially on the penalty kill for nearly the first 5 minutes of the game. This would also mark the last PP the Capitals would get until the 3rd period.

The Capitals PK would be put to work twice before the end of the 1st period and again for four penalties in the 2nd period. Under that much pressure the PK responded with no goals allowed and only four shots on goal allowed in that time. Their effort in this contest cements the changes the Capitals made to better their defense, as they got great puck control from everyone. This can be seen in the difference in blocked shots, with the Capitals tallying 20 versus 10 for the Stars.

A large factor in the Capitals ability to maintain control of the game was their face-off win percentage which has been labeled as an area of growth needed, they recorded 54.4%. However, they struggled to maintain possession for majority of the time as they had a 48.1 CF%.

In spite of the possession of the puck mainly being with the Stars in the second period, the Capitals fourth line found the right formula to match their great effort all night. John Carlson made a play on the puck to jump into the attack creating a odd man rush, and Carlson finishing off his hard work with a goal, his second on the season off a nice assist from Hathaway.

Just a few minutes later Richard Panik got his best chance of the season to score his first goal with the Capitals, but missed the goal. The Capitals continued the sudden breakaway attacks with Kuznetsov getting a great opportunity but getting stopped by Khudobin. The second period would conclude with the Capitals holding a 2-0 lead, they were determined to not repeat the come back from the Predators on Thursday night.

The Capitals came out ensuring they would overcome the stigma from Thursday. With the help of the fourth line’s energy and intensity the Capitals kept the pressure on the Stars. Using a new aggressive zone entry where Kuznetsov gained the zone at full speed off a perfect feed from Nicklas Backstrom, he got behind the defense before they could adjust and beat Khudobin five hole to extend the Capitals lead to 3-0.

The Stars found a way to break through with a hard angle wraparound goal where Orlov was beat from get go and couldn’t help Samsonov out. This gave the Stars new life and had them playing with a little more zip for the remainder of the game. However, it was not enough to help overcome the deficit as they opened up the net to get the extra attacker with just over three minutes left in the game. And even though it took the Capitals three chances to seal the win, Ovechkin finally found the empty net for the nail in the coffin.

Overall, this was a great team effort in all areas of the ice.  With standout performances from Tom Wilson, John Carlson, and IIya Samsonov.  Not to mention the aggressive forechecking and intensity the third and fourth lines continued to bring all night long.  Although there are areas they could use improvement, mainly need to improve on clearing the puck from the defensive zone when pinched in for extended periods of the gameplay. Hopefully after playing a game like this, they will carry over this effort tonight against the Colorado Avalanche.