The Capitals’ 4-3 shootout win against the Red Wings was a wild one, to put it mildly.
First, it seemed like the Caps had the win in the bag being up 3-1 with less than two minutes left in the game…until the hockey gods gave the Red Wings two lucky-bounce goals to tie it up.
When overtime proved not enough to decide a winner, it went to the shootout, which the Caps have been notoriously horrible at all season long…and somehow they scored on all three of their attempts to take the win. None of those attempts were as important as Nic Dowd’s. Yes, that Nic Dowd, who had never even been in a shootout before let alone scored in one and yet somehow scored a pretty nice goal to give the Caps the win.
But Dowd wasn’t just a shootout hero tonight; he also started the scoring for the game.
After the Red Wings’ first goal was waved off, the Caps came alive. A little over six minutes into the first, Dowd landed a huge hit on Ben Chiarot. Doing so took the defensemen out of the play, allowing the puck to go around the wall. Ryan Leonard was able to win his puck battle and get it to Dowd, who sent it to the point to Trevor van Riemsdyk. TvR’s shot went wide and around the boards, where a Red Wings player tried to slap it past Jakob Chychrun and failed. Connor McMichael then picked up the loose change and fed it to Dowd at the top of the circles, who skated it to the dot and ripped a shot through a screen into the back of the net.
It was a classic Caps shift from Dowd, something we haven’t seen in quite a while but which was welcome, nonetheless. The goal was just the third of the season for Dowd and it couldn’t have come at a better time. That goal started it all – and while the hockey gods tried to ruin it, the Caps still prevailed in what was a solid game overall for the team, with a poetic bookend night for Dowd.
The question now is whether the Caps can carry any momentum out of what they themselves said was a must-win game, one they were victorious in despite the adversity they had to fight through to get the two points. Now it’s time to start stringing together some wins, which won’t be an easy task given that their next two are against divisional rivals (and the first and third seeds in the Metro) Carolina and the Islanders.
It’s time for the Caps to find their playoff-style game if they want to see the real playoffs (and get healthy along the way).
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