The Caps beat the Kings 4-2
The Washington Capitals beat the LA Kings four to two in Washington DC. Alex Ovechkin continued his hot streak, with a hat trick tonight. He didn’t record a shot until the third period. In the third he recorded a hat trick (more on that later). The other goal came from defenseman John Carlson. Carlson was the first defenseman since December to score a goal.
The Capitals seemed to work on the issues that plagued them in the game against Pitt. They had a total of two penalties for the whole game. They netted a total of 24 shots for the game. While that is a relatively low number, it was enough to get the job done. The Caps have become a more physical team as well. They had 22 hits for the game while LA only had 14. If the Caps can keep this physicality up, and the goaltending stays hot like the offense, then the Caps will be serious contenders, come playoff time.
Lets talk goaltending for a minute. Holtby had the start tonight, even though he hasn’t played well recently. I’m not sure if its because Samsonov was injured in practice, or if they were gonna go with Holtby regardless. Holtby gave up two goals on 31 shots, saving 29 of them. He looked to be back to his regular top notch goaltending self tonight. If Holtby is back to his all star form, then the Caps, have a really good problem. Samsonov and Holtby would make any team tremble in the playoffs since both are really good.
Lets talk Alex Ovechkin for a minute. He’s on one of the best streaks of his career. He basically led the offense in the third period. He scored career goals, 696,697,698 all in the third period. The third one was an empty net goal. It was also his career hat trick 27 for him.
All in all, it was a solid 60 minutes from the Caps tonight.