Caps Host Jets
With a three-game winning streak and eight wins in their last nine, Caps finish a set of back-to-backs when Winnipeg visits on Friday night
The Caps finish up a set of back-to-backs and play their final game before the NHL's annual three-day holiday hiatus when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night. Washington started the set of back-to-backs north of the border in Ottawa on Thursday night, winning its fifth straight road game, a 3-2 overtime triumph over the Sens. Marcus Johansson's alert burst of speed up the middle won it for Washington midway through the extra session; he exploited a trio of tired Sens skaters, all of them forwards and all of them on the ice for at least 57 seconds at that point.
Johansson's overtime game-winner was his third in a Washington sweater, and his first in just over six years, since he helped the Caps defeat Buffalo by a 3-2 count on Dec. 5, 2016. Johansson has notched the game-winning goal in three of Washington's eight victories this month, striking once on the power play, once shorthanded and once in overtime.
Thursday's victory is Washington's eighth in its last nine games, and it lifts the Caps (18-13-4) legitimately above .500 for the first time in nearly two months. Washington woke up on Halloween morning with a 5-4-0 record on the season.
Leading 2-1 at the outset of the third period, the Caps fell into instant penalty peril when Sonny Milano took a double-minor for hi-sticking just 18 seconds in. Ottawa tied it on the back half of that double minor, but Caps goalie Darcy Kuemper (23 saves) and the penalty killing outfit killed off two more Ottawa power plays after that, with Trevor van Riemsdyk notably sweeping the crease to save a goal - and likely, the game - at the last split second on the last of the quartet of third-period kills.
"It's great that we find a way, and we find a different way to get the two points," says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin. "Obviously, it was a tough third period, but the penalty kill did a great job to keep us in the game and Kuemps was solid today. So yeah, we'll take two points and move on."
Ovechkin had a pair of assists and recorded six shots on net, but he was held without a goal for the fourth straight game, matching his longest dry spell of the season to date. With 800 career goals, Ovechkin remains just one goal behind Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL's all-time goals ledger.
Even without scoring, Ovechkin managed to break an NHL record that had stood for more than two decades on Thursday night in Ottawa. Those six shots on net pushed Ovechkin's career total to 6,211, pushing Hockey Hall of Famer Raymond Bourque out of the top spot all-time on that list. Bourque retired after the 2000-01 season, and the League didn't begin tracking shots by player until 1959-60.
"It probably goes hand in hand, right?" says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of Ovechkin's latest NHL record. "You've got to deliver the puck in order to be up there in goals, so that's no surprise. It's impressive, though. He is going to be at the tops of the charts in shots, goals and hits. It's pretty impressive."
What's also impressive is Washington's recent run of strong play, which now extends back an entire month. Starting with another 3-2 overtime win - at home over Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Eve - the Caps are now 11-3-1 in their last 15 games. Thursday's win moved Washington past the New York Islanders and into fifth place in the Metropolitan Division standings.
Making his first start in nearly three weeks after missing several games with an upper body injury, Kuemper was strong in net, earning his ninth win. He was lonely through the first half of the game; the Caps limited the Sens to just six shots over the first half of the game, and the only puck to get behind him during that span was Alex DeBrincat's deflection of Nick Holden's left point shot early in the first.
"It's nice to be back in the lineup, first of all," says Kuemper. "And then for a big team win, it makes it feel even better being back."
Kuemper made 11 of his 23 saves in the third period, with seven of them coming while Ottawa was on the power play.
"First game back in a while, five shots in the first period isn't exactly what you're hoping for, but you've just got to stick with it," says Kuemper. "They started to press a little more as the game went on, and I started to get a little bit more work."
Winnipeg will also be finishing up a set of back-to-backs on Friday night in the District. On Thursday in Boston, the Jets jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead but couldn't add to it and couldn't hold onto it in a 3-2 loss to the Bruins.
The Jets sit in second place in the NHL's Central Division, a single point behind front-running Dallas.
Washington defeated the Jets in Winnipeg just under two weeks ago, with Johansson's shorthanded goal - his first since Feb. 2, 2011, midway through his rookie season - standing up as the game-winner in a 5-2 Caps victory. Since then, the Jets have split a six-pack of games (3-3-0). In Thursday's game against the Bruins, Connor Hellebuyck was in goal for Winnipeg, an indication that the Caps could see David Rittich in the Jets' crease on Friday night.
