Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images
The Washington Capitals extinguished the Calgary Flames by a score of 5-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday night for their third straight win. The team also improved to 11-5-2 (.667 points percentage) over the last five weeks. Washington, who went 3-2-0 over their five-game Northwest road trip, vaulted to 33-25-9 (.560) overall this season. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 34 saves in the victory.
Washington’s Lines
Alex Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — T.J. Oshie
Ivan Miroshnichenko — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty — Hendrix Lapierre — Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Aliaskei Protas
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: C Michael Sgarbossa, RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel, D Ethan Bear
Injured: C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
Calgary’s Lines
Jonathan Huberdeau — Nazem Kadri — Martin Pospisil
Andrew Mangiapane — Mikael Backlund — Blake Coleman
Dryden Hunt — Yegor Sharangovich — Andrei Kuzmenko
A.J. Greer — Kevin Rooney — Matt Coronato
Oliver Kylington — Rasmus Andersson
MacKenzie Weegar — Daniil Miromanov
Joel Hanley — Brayden Pachal
Dustin Wolf
Dan Vladar
Scratched: RW Jakob Pelletier, RW Walker Duehr, D Dennis Gilbert, D Nikita Okhotiuk
Injured: C Dillon Dube (personal), C Connor Zary (upper-body), G Jacob Markstrom (lower-body)
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring
14:59, 1-0 Washington: Strome ripped a wrister under the blocker of Wolf from the right dot to finish off a cycling play that started after Malenstyn got the puck off of the forecheck, Strome fed Jensen at the top from the goal-line, and Jensen hit Sandin at the left dot before Sandin sent the puck across to Strome. Ten of Sandin’s 18 assists this season have been primaries. Strome has now scored 23 goals in 69 games in the month of March during his career, the most of any calendar month. Strome has tied his single-season career-high in goals (2022-23: 23 goals in 81 games) in his 67th outing of the campaign.
Dylan Strome set a career high in goals scored last year with 23 in 81 games played. He has matched that mark in his 67th game this season. pic.twitter.com/v83GwVPoiD
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 19, 2024
Shots: 12-8 Calgary
Other Notable Stats: 4-1 Calgary in hits, 10-9 Calgary in blocked shots
Screenshots: Natural StatTrick
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring
5:58, 2-0 (PPG): Ovechkin tipped in Pacioretty’s wrister from the left dot in front of the goal past the glove of Wolf after Wilson spun around and dished a loose puck behind him to Pacioretty in the slot. Wilson (16 goals in 65 games) reached the 30-point mark for the sixth time in his career. Pacioretty’s seven power-play assists this season rank fourth on Washington. Wolf marks the fifth new goaltender Ovechkin has scored on this season, joining Joseph Woll (10/24/23 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs), Yaroslav Askarov (12/30/23 vs. Nashville Predators), Alex Nedeljkovic (1/2/24 at Pittsburgh Penguins) and Samuel Ersson (3/1/24 vs. Philadelphia Flyers). Wolf became the 174th different goaltender that Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored on more goaltenders in NHL history. Ovechkin became the only player in NHL history to record 19 consecutive 20-goal seasons from the start of his career and the fifth player in NHL history to reach the 20-goal mark 19 times. He also became only the third to record 19 straight 20-goal seasons (Gordie Howe: 22; Brendan Shanahan: 19).
NINE! TEEN! 20-GOAL SEASONS FOR THE #GR8 pic.twitter.com/OOctfO6y3J
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 19, 2024
9:16, 3-0 (PPG): Ovechkin blasted a one-timer from the left circle past the blocker of Wolf after Carlson fed him from the point, Strome gave the puck to Carlson from the right dot, and the shot ramped up off of Andersson’s stick. Strome has reached the 30-assist mark for the third time in his career. With the assist, Carlson has reached the 40-point mark for the seventh time in his career. That ties Scott Stevens and Kevin Hatcher for the most 40-point seasons by a defenseman in franchise history. Ovechkin has 170 multi-goal games in his career. Only Wayne Gretzky (189) has more multi-goal games in NHL history. Monday’s contest marks Ovechkin’s 24th career game with multiple power-play goals. He now has multi-goal games against 94 different goalies – the most in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky ranks second on the list with 89.
THE #GR8‘S ON HATTY WATCH pic.twitter.com/aLotiyL6MV
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 19, 2024
10:41, 3-1: Pachal backhanded a shot that Rooney tapped into an empty net by the left pad of Lindgren after Conorato flew into the offensive zone and set Pachal up in the slot. Washington challenged the goal for goaltender interference with two bodies swarming the crease but came up unsuccessful.
Right place, right time! pic.twitter.com/RgC4lbzvXH
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) March 19, 2024
14:22, 4-1: Lapierre hammered a floating puck in front of Wolf after Milano, who caught the puck rimming around the boards at the point, sent it past the Calgary defense and to Lapierre, who recorded eight points (six goals) in his last 11 games. Lapierre’s eight points since February 26 rank third among NHL rookies, trailing only Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (four goals, 13 points in nine games) and Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (five goals, nine points in 13 games). Milano has recorded five assists in his last four games against Calgary dating back to last season.
Just impressive hand-eye from Lappy here pic.twitter.com/kls5ztH0Jc
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 19, 2024
Shots: 23-23, including 15-11 Washington in the second
Other Notable Stats: 17-12 Washington in blocked shots, 10-4 Calgary in hits, Washington went two-for-three on power plays while Calgary did not convert on two through 40
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring
7:13, 4-2: Weegar teed one up, wound up, and blasted a slapper past the blocker of Lindgren off of the faceoff win by Backlund.
Make it 1⃣6⃣ on the year for Weegs! pic.twitter.com/ZNTK71VQUy
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) March 19, 2024
17:31, 5-2 (ENG): Wilson chased a loose puck, chipped it past Weegar at center ice, and raced in to pot one into the empty cage after Malenstyn broke up a passing play in front and sent him in all alone.
Shots: 36-33 Calgary, including 13-10 in the third
Other Notable Stats: 24-22 Calgary in blocked shots, 15-10 Calgary in hits, Calgary finished 0-for-three on the power play
Standings
Washington passed the Detroit Red Wings (with a game in hand) by one point for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and is three behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (with each team having played 67 games) for the first. In addition, they are one back of the Philadelphia Flyers (one in hand) for third place in the Metropolitan Division. The Capitals lead the New York Islanders (with each team having played 67 games) by three points, Pittsburgh Penguins (67) and Buffalo Sabres (one in hand) by six, and New Jersey Devils (one in hand) by seven in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings.
Next game: Wednesday vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 PM ET, TNT)
By Harrison Brown
According to Stathletes, the Islanders have a 59% chance of qualifying for the post-season — the second-best odds of a team that is on the bubble — followed by the Capitals at 51.7% and the Flyers at 49.1%.
A number of writers this week are optimistic about the Caps. Themes appear to be that others are not getting the value out of their new additions or left it too late. They say the Caps additions have produced and the Caps made their youth move earlier than say the Pits.
Playoffs? Don’t talk about playoffs! Playoffs? Playoffs?!?
Well, for about 44 hours we can talk about them! And hopefully longer.
I’m still skeptical and if betting would not bet any Caps advance beyond round 1. But there are writers who are more optimistic than I. Some injuries right now could derail some borderline teams.
Speaking of which, I see that Chucky’s brother is out for a few weeks (Rangers say). Maybe he can come to DC and watch our #1 goalie.
Considering that publications like The Athletic picked the Caps to finish somewhere around 8th worst, or so, in the pre-season, I’d say the team is playing with house money, now. You don’t want to see them completely fall apart, but pretty much everything is gravy from now, till the end of the regular season. Questions about McMike and Lapierre were answered. Playing meaningful games with about a month left, is none too shabby, and there’s 26 draft picks in the bank, for the next three years.
And we’re not Pittsburgh. Unless you believe in the Pittsburgh conspiracy theories, then they’re gonna suck for the foreseeable future.
It’s good to be a Caps’ fan again!
It gives me a lot of hope for next year. As you say, much more than I would have as a Pits fan. I think they have a lot of upset and agony ahead of them.
Nice win, lots of gut to be able to push like that at the end of a long road trip. Calgary had way too many chances, though, but luckily, Chucky was up to task.
And I gotta hand it to PD: saying both Vancouver and Calgary would be a piece of cake, just after the Seattle game. Still don’t know how you do it, man! 😁 So what’s your prognosis for the upcoming games?
Ahoy Andrew! Great night for our guys
Caps are healthy and hungry
Charlie Sideburns is the real thing
I like our chances
Boo-bird Nation analysis:
Slowvechkin, should have traded him when we had the chance
Caps need to “start acting like the $ukk team they really are”
Worst contract in the NHL: Tom Wilson
This season is all illusion. Caps believers are naïve and hallucinating
Clueless GM, stupid trade deadline moves
Reality looks a bit different:
Big-time road victories for Over-the-Hill-Vechkin and his team
Lapierre’s Purple Haze Goal was a thing of beauty
Caps are proving their critics wrong
Remaining schedule includes all the teams Caps need to vanquish
On the way to Playoff Berth
TOR and CAR this week. We’ll learn more about Captain Carbery’s Blues Magoos
Good summary of Caps Nation in a bit she’ll, PD 👍
I get the Blues Magoos reference:
We Ain’t Got Nuthin Yet!
Nice
Heating up at optimal time.
Keeping Kuemper out of net has been a big part.
Have to agree. That contract is starting to really bother me
I think the guys rally behind Charlie more. Plus Kuemper just makes terrible decisions.
Methinx MacLellan is gonna try to move Kuemper over the off-season. That’s a difficult task, would have to throw in a lot of sweetener, a young player, or a 2nd round pick. I don’t see them buying him out, just yet. If BMac can’t unload him, I guess he’s the backup next season, extend Chuck, Clay and Shep in Hershey again; Shep goes FA, Kuemper buyout, summer of 2025.
More March Juice!
Go hard, boys! Don’t quit! Go eff up someone’s playoff standing. I am enjoying this incarnation of the Caps and was expecting this to be a bottom tier team at the start of the season. Yes, they still have issues but so far, this has been fun to see them actually playing for something. I wasn’t for the total rebuild or tanking just to move up in the draft positioning, I wanted to see some attitude (Caps could use more of it), some fight, and they’re showing it. I prefer this to guys with nothing to play for and just phoning it in, going thru the motions. LGC!!!
This Caps team has been more fun to watch than any since probably the early Young Guns edition with Boudreau at the helm. Yes, even more fun than the Cup winning team. In 2018 I was just too nervous to enjoy things. This team is frustrating, but enjoyable, since it’s all house money, from here on out. Reminds me of 2008.
Don’t Stop Believin’
the infusion of youth gives me hope that some of these young guys will have break outs and become that new core of Caps main stays.
RIP Chris Simon…
Oh no! He was a great guy!
True story: took my daughter to Piney Orchard, in 2001. Chris was the last player off the ice, since he was rehabbing an injury. Despite being exhausted, Chris posed with a big smile on his face, for a picture with my daughter. Despite his temper issues on the ice, he was a good guy off it.
Godspeed Mr. Simon
I don’t really care whether or not we make the play-offs. BUT – my hopes are no longer on a high draft pick, either .. I believe Carbery is building a strong, tough team full of players that know it’s not the better team that wins, it’s the team that plays better that wins.
When I taught, I always preferred good students who worked hard to gifted students who were lazy.
what’s that saying by Herb Brooks? “I don’t need the best players; I just need the right ones.”
Would have had that on my classroom wall if I had known it. Exactly.