The Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils came into the back half of a back-to-back in which they both lost the first game. Which team could avoid becoming the one to lose two in consecutive days? Another afternoon (puke) start would decide that.
Andreas Johnsson broke open the scoring on an early New Jersey power play. Jack Hughes deftly put a backhand behind Craig Anderson who was deep in his net to extend the lead. TJ Oshie tipped home a power-play point drive to cut the lead in half. John Carlson tied things up halfway through the third period.
Timothy Jimothy got on the board again to give the Caps their first lead of the day. Alex Ovechkin sealed it with a late tap-in. Nikita Gusev grabbed one back with the New Jersey netminder pulled.
Caps beat Devils 4-3!
- It took the Caps over ten minutes to record a shot on goal in this game against a goaltender that hadn’t started an NHL game in about a full year. Said shot was basically a dump-in by Jakub Vrana from center ice that just so happened to end up on goal. After they finally recorded that “shot” they did look much better and probably were unlucky to come away with nothing from the period.
- Is anyone else incredibly tired of NBC advertising start times that are in fact 30-45 minutes before the puck is actually dropped?
- Today’s roster featured only two Caps players under the age of 28. That’s going to be an issue very, very soon…if it isn’t already.
- I thought the Caps controlled most of the second but they still are just not creating enough grade-A scoring chances that really worry opposing goaltenders. Too much is happening on the outside, and they’re having a tough time penetrating the interiors of teams’ defenses.TJ Oshie did end up ditching a nine-game goal drought by deflecting in a John Carlson power-play point drive to give the Caps some life.
- That Nic Dowd turnover for the Devils second goal was brutal. You don’t want your fourth-line center pulling a Michael Nylander circle maneuver directly into three opposing players instead of just putting the puck on net. That whole fourth line has not been good five-on-five for a long stretch now, but they have killed penalties excellently. Tough decision.
- Jack Hughes is the real deal. There is ridiculous young talent amongst the teams the Caps will be playing the most these next several seasons.
- Why exactly was Ilya Samsonov not given another AHL game if he wasn’t going to start this one? A valiant effort from Craig Anderson to keep the boys in this game though.
- I don’t know where that third-period Caps team has been but if they could show up all the time that’d be awesome. Fervent and absolutely dominant comeback effort that looked nothing like the team in the first two periods that spurred on the third bullet I wrote in this recap. Unbelievably good.
- Alex Ovechkin has scored a goal. Someone check on @averagecapsfan.
- Guess what times the Caps games next weekend start at? Hoo-boy.
No Joe B so here’s Ovie:
IT’S HOCKEY O’CLOCK! #ALLCAPS #LETSGOCAPS #ROCKTHERED #CAPSdevils No #CoachSaffyBean she’s still sleeping… I mean REALLY MAD about yesterday #CapsBulldog #CapitalsBulldog trying my alt Red and hoping this helps the #Caps pic.twitter.com/yldg17X7ZC
— Ovie the Bulldog (@OvietheBulldog) February 21, 2021
Next up for the Caps is a two-game set with the Pittsburgh Penguins…both at normal human hockey time. Thank the hockey lords.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Devils
Screenshot courtesy of NBC
