Photo: Monumental
The Washington Capitals, like a luxury liner, sometimes take a while to get going. The Bruins had the best of them early on Thursday, but once the Caps accumulated momentum there was no stopping them.
Like I said, the Bs were in control early, and Jimmy Hayes’ power-play tip-in made the scoreboard reflect it. But before the first period was over, the Caps were stirring. Alex Ovechkin scored while falling to tie game at the close of twenty minutes.
The Capitals owned the second period, which featured Brooks Laich’s first goal this season, a tip-in off Orlov’s shot; and a perfectly executed 5-on-3 goal setup by Backstrom and finished by John Carlson.
Alzner sunk an empty-netter late because he’s a goal hog who only wants to inflate his personal stats.
Caps beat Bruins 4-1. Woot.
Bullets next, but first this little stud:
It's not that he's is bored by his first game listening to @WaltonCaps on @CapitalsRadio, he's just had a long day. pic.twitter.com/cQoWoSyNfh
— Timothy Jimothy Yoshie (@tjyoshie77) November 6, 2015
- The Bruins actually scored, which is something they hadn’t done since Adam Oates was coach. Bravo, Bruins.
- The Capitals power play has been pointless since Edmonton on October 23, so it’s a good thing they got to play Boston’s league-worst PK — and even better thing they got a long 5-on-3 opportunity to boot. Nick Backstrom’s sublime pass to John Carlson seemed to go through the stick of whatever defenseman that was.
- The rest of the power plays didn’t look very good. The Caps had a rough time getting set up or even getting out of their own zone. They’re so great once they assemble, but some adjustments to the breakout might be needed.
- It seems nothing goes right for Brooks Laich. Apart from his looks, personal life, health, and wealth, Laich had been a disaster. He had 16 shots and more than 40 scoring chances before Thursday, but not a point to show for it. His screen on Dmitry Orlov’s long bomb corrected that, and now maybe hopefully things will start to get better for poor ol’ Brooks. Here’s John Walton calling it.
- Ovi can’t score boring.
- This bullet is dedicated to my favorite defensive pairing. Nope, it’s not John Carlson and Brooks Orpik, who had another brutal game of sub-30-percent possession but were bailed out by Braden Holtby. It was Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt (surprise!), who had a tremendous game. Check out Orly’s hit on Beleskey, which ignited Verizon Center in the second period.
https://twitter.com/EdFrankovic/status/662455228558503936
- A bit more on John Carlson. Ed is right that Carlson played well. He scored and got his 200th NHL point, which is lovely, and he certainly played some smart defense. The problem is that he played so much defense. Now maybe we can all put our heads together and figure out why that’s happening or pick some ways it can be stopped.
- Twelve games in and the Capitals finally have a fight on their rap sheet. First to drop the gloves was Michael Latta, suiting up for just the 4th time this season. Latta fought Tyler Randell, but that doesn’t matter as fraction as much as his assist on the Laich goal and a solid performance in just a handful of shifts.
- Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin’s riff on one-time back-up goalie Brett Leonhardt was one of their all-time best riffs, and I’ve been cataloguing their riffs since the mid 90s and burning them onto CD-Rs and mailing them to people I meet on Prodigy.
- TJ Oshie is a tenacious little puppy in front of the net, but he’s not getting rewarded for it. He had five shots on goal against Tuukka Rask but didn’t sink a one. I’m not panicking yet, but it’s time for Osh to get red hot please.
Joe B suit of the night
The Caps are good. They play hockey well and win hockey games. I like them and I like you. Sleep tight and have a happy Friday.
