Familiar territory: Holtby blanks Canes for Game 5 win
In the most important game of the Washington Capitals season, Washington reclaimed the play that led them to the top spot in the Metropolitan. After recording only one goal in Games 3 and 4, the Capitals offense exploded for 6 goals. T.J. Oshie was absent for this one, out indefinitely after being the recipient of a dirty cross-check from Warren Foegele at the end of Game 4. Holtby recorded his 6th straight win on home ice, and recorded his 3rd shutout in the last 3 series, dating back to Games 6 and 7 against Tampa Bay.
First Period
The Capitals started Game 5 by living in Carolina’s zone, firing the first 9 shot attempts and forcing Petr Mrazek to make 5 saves. Nearly 8 minutes after puck drop, the Capitals found themselves on their second power play. Ovechkin made a slick defensive play on a possible odd-man rush, and fired the puck up to Tom Wilson. Wilson found Carlson, who found Backstrom on the right. Backstrom was stopped by Mrazek on the first, but would not be denied, gathering his rebound and depositing the puck between the legs of Mrazek to put the Caps up 1-0.
Second Period
The second period saw momentum swing back in Carolina’s favor, with Washington having to kill numerous penalties. At the midway point, Carolina was outshooting Washington 9-1, albeit mostly due to power play opportunities. With 12 minutes elapsed in the second, Alex Ovechkin gathered the puck at center ice and moved into Carolina’s zone on a 2 on 1 with Backstrom. Ovi ladled a sweet pass across to Backstrom, who roofed it to make the score 2-0.
2 minutes later, Ovechkin came into the zone bearing down on Carolina defenseman Dougie Hamilton. A quick recap of what happened:
Dougie: Oh no, not Ovechkin. I don’t want that.
Ovechkin: You don’t want puck? I do. Thank you. **
** we don’t have anyone who speaks Russian, so we’re just going to assume this is how it went
Ovechkin, after that nice exchange, picked up the puck, and found Brett Connolly in front of the net to give the Capitals a 3 goal cushion.
Near the end of the second, Washington went back to the power play.
Third Period
With the power play carrying over into the third period, Washington’s PP unit went back to work. After a Kuznetsov try was saved by Mrazek, Wilson picked up the loose change and cashed in, tallying his second of the playoffs.
Nic Dowd had a penalty shot opportunity after a Jaccob Slavin slash, and a sick little move from Dowd opened up Mrazek to put the Caps up 5-0. A nice little tribute to T.J. Oshie there from the Alabama native.
A holding call on Lucas Wallmark on a Brock McGinn breakaway negated a good scoring chance for Carolina, which might have been a momentum builder. Instead, Washington went back to the power play. And instead of burning time, the Captain rifled home a message. Nick Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov assisted on Ovechkin’s goal. For those at home, this one would’ve needed 3 goalies to stop that shot. Ovi with a 3 point night and his 3rd goal of the series.
CAPS WIN! Great Eight Thoughts…
- WOW. What a game from the Capitals. Complete domination in nearly every facet of the game tonight. Player of the game? Braden Holtby and a fantastic penalty killing unit. After a series of questionable calls, Washington’s PK stood tall, playing with intensity and poise like we haven’t seen since last summer.
- Big props to the coaching staff. After Games 3 and 4, Todd Reirden decided to switch it up. Every line was changed, and Reirden was rewarded for those changes with a victory that was not in doubt after the second period.
- Game 5 saw the playoff debuts for two Capitals depth guys. On the back end, Jonas Seigenthaler stepped in to replace Christian Djoos, and playoff hero Devante Smith-Pelly found a home on the fourth line, replacing Oshie. Both switches paid off enormously. While neither player recorded points, DSP brought energy and physicality to a fourth line needing a spark. Chandler Stephenson and Dowd looked fantastic on the ice with DSP, and that line outworked their competition tonight.
- On the blue line, Jonas Seigenthaler played an excellent game, in my opinion. It’s not often that we see young defenseman step up and make plays, but Seigs locked down the left side of the ice and allowed John Carlson to (FINALLY) move back to his natural position on the right. Matt Niskanen and Nick Jensen also had good nights, batting pucks away and maintaining strong positional play for 60 minutes. My only concern on defense was Dmitri Orlov, who had several ill-advised passes that did not cost the Caps.
- The top line of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson did well despite not having the puck as much as Carolina. Despite not having the puck a bunch at even strength, they will scored 2 goals, one from Backstrom and one from Connolly *assisted by Ovechkin and Backstrom so it counts.
- The second line of Vrana-Kuzy-Hagelin killed it tonight, owning the puck in possession, but they still haven’t found the back of the net. That line got stronger as the game went on, so I’d be inclined to give them more time.
- Power play was 2-5. Ovechkin and Backstrom with the two tallies.
- Game 6! Elimination game for Carolina. Let’s go!
