Caps Come Home to Host Wild
A night after a stirring comeback over the Islanders in New York, the Caps make a quick stop at home to host Minnesota
A night after a stirring comeback from a 3-0 deficit resulted in a 4-3 overtime win over the Islanders in New York, the Capitals make a quick stop at home to host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, and to pack their bags for a week out west in a trip that begins on Wednesday.
With the Wild watching on in Washington, the Caps rallied from a three-goal hole midway through the second period, rumbling their way to victory on Dmitry Orlov's goal in the final minute of the extra session. Monday's win over the Isles was the Caps' eighth win in their last nine road games, and the comeback victory enabled Washington to avoid the ignominy of what would have been a third straight regulation loss, a fate they've avoided all season to date.
The first period was rocky; the Caps fell down 2-0 and were held without a shot on net for nearly 11 minutes. After the Isles added to their lead early in the second, the Caps gamely began chipping away. Garnet Hathaway scored four seconds after Washington won an offensive-zone draw, and Tom Wilson netted his first of the season on a nifty Nicklas Backstrom feed while the two teams played 4-on-4 hockey in the back half of the second.
T.J. Oshie's tip-in tally tied it early in the third, and the combination of timely stops from Darcy Kuemper and Orlov's overtime winner - his second of the season and his team-leading fifth since 2019-20 - put the two points in the Caps' column at night's end.
But it wasn't all sunshine and candy, either. The Caps lost center Nic Dowd to a lower body injury early in the first period, and he did not return.
"It hurts us, missing Dowder," says Oshie. "He's a big part of our team, a big part of the face-offs for our centermen and a big part of our [penalty kill] and 5-on-5 in general. He does a great job out there every night, so to lose him is tough.
"And the way we've been playing lately, to get a comeback win, sometimes that's better than playing the full 60 [minutes]. You see how you don't want to play, and then in the same game you see how you do want to play, and how much success you can have from it. So an important second half of the game there, and an important third period and OT."
Each side only had one power play in Monday's game, so there wasn't much special teams time to worry about from the standpoint of taxation on the Caps as they travel home to face a rested opponent. But they did have to muck through about 60 minutes of hockey without Dowd, which made the win all the more impressive.
"This League is too tough to think about tomorrow," says Wilson. "You've got to take care of business the first night, and obviously a little bit of adversity isn't ideal. But it's good team building when you have some new guys coming in and out of the lineup, and finding a way to win is important. It was a good vibe on the bench once we started coming back and making that push."
Washington did have a handful of defensemen and forwards whose minutes were higher than usual on Monday, the byproduct of chasing a deficit and having to play overtime as well.
"I didn't even look at the minutes," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Losing a forward early is tough, but we tried to spread it around so that no one person got taxed too much, and it is what it is. We've got to fly home and get ready for Minnesota. It's a big game and a big two points."
The Wild has been idle since Saturday when it shaved the Coyotes by a 2-1 count in St. Paul. That victory came in the Wild's lone home game in a stretch of seven games; Tuesday's game starts a four-game trip that will also carry it to Carolina and to the two Florida cities.
Minnesota sits in third place in the NHL's Central Division, seven points back of twin frontrunners Winnipeg and Dallas, and five points clear of fourth-place Colorado. The Wild has won four of its last seven games, collecting at least a point in six of the seven (4-1-2).
