One week ago was the beginning of the fire sale just moments before the Anaheim Ducks beat the Washington Capitals in D.C. Last night in Anaheim the Caps would come out on top thanks to two goals from Tom Wilson including the game winner in overtime.
Martin Fehervary got the scoring started at 8:58 with his fifth goal of the season. Those assists came from Nicklas Backstrom and Dylan McIlrath. Troy Terry tied it at 13:01. 1-1 would be the score after one with the Caps leading 13-9. The second period was scoreless as the Caps led in shots 17-4 definitely a much better effort than the last few games.
In the third the teams traded goals. Wilson scored eight seconds into the third period with the assist coming from Trevor van Riemsdyk. Trevor Zegras tied it at 4:17. The Ducks led in shots 10-8 in the third period as the game would go to three on three overtime.
In the overtime Wilson would provide the heroics with the Caps first and only shot of the extra session. It came at 1:09 with assists from T.J. Oshie and Alex Alexeyev. The Caps outshot the Ducks 39-23 overall. It was Wilson’s seventh goal of the season.
Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves in the winning effort. The Caps are now 30-27-6 with 66 points, good for fifth in the wild card. Now it’s unlikely they’ll make the playoffs but for the optimistic folks reading this they’re just three points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for that second and final playoff spot. So not out of it yet.
The Caps did lose Nick Jensen to an upper body injury and Martin Fehervary with a lower body injury after having just re signed Nick Jensen to an extension. They are day to day.
The Caps next game is Saturday evening against the San Jose Sharks for a 6 p.m. eastern puck drop. So if you’re on the west coast it’s a late afternoon one.