Resiliant Caps Win in Shootout, 6-5
It took “the gimmick” to do it but at the end of the night the Capitals had won their fourth in a row and snapped a seven game losing skid against the Penguins.
It was an ugly game for the Caps, but imagine this: Your team has just had a goal waived off and to boot it’s because a penalty was assessed. The other team has gone on the powerplay and scored to take the lead. Your goalie has stopped eight shots and let five get by him for the game.
Now that’s a discouraging hockey scenario if ever there was one.
Well, imagine this: Your team is battling in overtime and one of your top two defensemen is called for a phantom slashing penalty and only 53 seconds later your team is again whistled for an infraction, sending you down two men for 1:07 against a skilled team with nothing to lose.
Now that’s a discouraging hockey scenario if ever there was one. And yet, as they have done ever since Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench, the Capitals remained focused and resilient and battled back behind another four assist night from Nicklas Backstrom, another two goals from Viktor Kozlov and a two-goals, eleven-shot performance from Alexander Ovechkin.
While it’s nice to pick up two, especially against the Pens, as a Caps fan you’d have to look at this game and say the Capitals were somewhat fortunate to get one point, let alone two. The red, white and blue had a lot of major miscues: far too many penalties, far too many blown coverages in their own end and far too many pucks getting by Olaf Kolzig that simply shouldn’t have. But then that’s the advantage of having a resilient team…and a line that will combine for three goals and eight points:
DMG’s 3 Stars (1) Alexander Ovechkin - 2 goals, 1 assist, 11 shots, +1, shootout goal
(2) Nicklas Backstrom - 4 assists, +1
(3) Viktor Kozlov - 2 goals, +1
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Photos: AP