Capitals Win Heavyweight Bout in NYC
After Monday night’s game and the events that occurred in that one, tonight’s game between Washington and New York was bound to be interesting. Right off the bat, three fights at the drop of the puck kicked things off. Then, the game escalated from there.
Within the first five minutes, there were six different fights. Three occurring one second into the game with Carl Hagelin, Nic Dowd, and Garnet Hathaway dropping the gloves. Then Tom Wilson, Michael Raffl, and Lars Eller each had an opportunity as well. With things chippy from the beginning, there wasn’t much offense through the first period, however things got going in the second.
Twelve seconds into the second period, T.J. Oshie put the Capitals up 1-0. He soon added his second of the game, and eventually tallied an empty-net goal to record the Capitals first hat trick of the season. This was Oshie’s first game back since the passing of his father.
The other goal scorer for the Capitals tonight was Nic Dowd, who at the time, put the Capitals up 3-0. Although the Rangers did score twice in the third, the Capitals overmatched them for the 4-2 win. In goal, Vitek Vanecek was good again as he recorded his 20th victory of the season.
In a game which recorded 100 penalty minutes through just the first period, and 141 total, the Capitals came out on top. Backed behind an Oshie hat trick and plenty of physical play, Washington moved back into first place in the Eastern division.
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Capitals control their own destiny. They will be back in action again on Friday (5/7) against the Philadelphia Flyers.
