The Washington Capitals traveled to Long Island yesterday in hopes of closing out November with a win against the New York Islanders. That hope was automatically in question because the Caps historically don’t play well in matinee games—their only other midday game this season was a 4-3 loss to the Canucks in October, and at one point they trailed 4-0. Today, however, everything went Washington’s way and they left New York with two points. Were they the best team on the ice the whole time? Absolutely not, but there were a few plays and a few players that made all the difference.
Logan Thompson was spectacular in net, saving 30 of 31 Islanders’ shots and making several stunning saves, including this one less than a minute in that helped set the tone. Alex Ovechkin scored his very casual 909th career NHL goal with 31 seconds left in the game to put the final nail in the coffin. Tom Wilson scored twice, putting him on pace for 47 goals this season. Wilson’s second goal ended up being the eventual game-winner, but it was his first goal that got the game going the right way for the Capitals. Let’s take a closer look…
The Capitals got the game’s first power play opportunity when Matthew Schaefer was called for tripping Ryan Leonard just 7:25 into the game. Just 12 seconds later, Tom Wilson would find the back of the net. The Caps won the faceoff, and after a few moves the puck made its way over to Alex Ovechkin at the top of the left circle courtesy of a Leonard cross-ice pass. Ovechkin…in his office…on the power play…everyone would expect him to fire his patented shot on net, right? Ilya Sorokin sure did—as soon as the puck was on Ovi’s stick, Sorokin lined himself up to play the Ovi shot. However, Ovechkin fooled everyone and passed the puck to Wilson, who was hovering to Sorokin’s right. With Sorokin focused on the potential Ovi shot, Wilson redirected the puck behind Sorokin’s right skate and into the net.
This goal was important for a few reasons. One, it got the Capitals an all-important first goal in a matinee game that they desperately needed to get off on the right foot for. Two, it will hopefully give Washington’s power play even more confidence moving forward. They’ve made some improvements lately, and the fact that they seem to be trending in the right direction is encouraging. Three, this could open up some fun possibilities on said power play. If they keep running this play and fooling opponents into thinking Ovechkin will shoot when he passes it instead, it could make goalies think twice about automatically squaring up to play the Ovi shot. This potentially opens up more opportunities for Ovechkin to score on the power play, or at the very least keeps opposing penalty kills on their toes. Part of the issue with the Capitals’ power play this season has been its predictability, so perhaps this is a solution for that. Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but that doesn’t change the fact that this goal was key for the Capitals yesterday.
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