P-L Dubois scored both goals and Logan Thompson made 30 saves – including 20 of them in the second period – to lift the Caps to a 2-1 overtime victory over the visiting Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena.
Wednesday’s win pushes Washington’s home points streak to nine (7-0-2) and gives the Caps a five-game points streak overall (3-0-2).
In the final minute of overtime – all three of the game’s goals came in the final minute of a period – Aliaksei Protas carried into Vancouver ice and curled around the back of the cage as he surveyed for options. He spotted Dubois entering the zone and fed him. Dubois then carried in from above the top of the left circle, made a move and snapped a shot bar down and in to give the Caps the win.
“That was just all [Protas],” recounts Dubois of the game-winner. “I just had to come down and score. [Lars Eller] game me a really good look before [in overtime], and I missed that one. It was a really nice play by pro.”
Dubois’ second goal of the game and seventh of the season enabled the Caps to again pull a pair of points from a game in which they were not at their best. Wednesday’s game started with a fair amount of ill will and rancor on both sides, and that undercurrent bubbled under the contest as it played out over the remainder of the evening.
“I thought we were physically engaged right away,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “We knew it was going to be a highly competitive game right away, right from the start. With where Vancouver is at, and the games, we felt that last year we had some really tight [games], both games we played against them in the second half of the year. So we had a feeling that this was going to be a little bit nasty out there, and it started that way, and continued on through the game.”
Indeed, it did. When a kerfuffle broke out in Washington’s end during a delayed Capitals penalty at 4:19 of the first, Dubois and linemates Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson all found themselves in the penalty box together; all three were hit with roughing minors, and Dubois also incurred a hooking minor. The end result was a four-minute Vancouver power play before the game’s first television timeout.
The Caps killed off the double minor with aplomb; the Canucks managed just a single shot on net during the four minutes, one of only three pucks they put on Thompson in the opening period.
In the final minute of the first, Dubois backhanded the rebound of a Matt Roy point drive over prone Vancouver netminder Kevin Lankinen, giving the Caps a 1-0 lead to carry into the second.
The middle period was an ugly one for the Caps; they spent much of it defending in their end of the ice. Fortunately for them, Thompson was again on his game. Washington went more than 10 minutes without recording a shot on net in the second, and Thompson’s best sequence of the middle frame came late when he stopped five shots in a span of 21 seconds, a couple of them from in tight, and three of them during a delayed penalty on Washington.
Late in the ensuing power play, the Canucks drew even with the Caps when Connor Garland found and buried a rebound just before Thompson was able to find it. The first Dubois goal came at 19:27 of the first and the Garland goal came at 19:23 of the second.
“The first period was how we wanted to start it, and I think that’s how we’ve been playing the first half of the year,” says Thompson, who improves to 17-2-2 on the season with the victory. “It was definitely a fun game, back and forth. But we knew in the second they would come out hard, and they did. It’s a playoff style game, and those are a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Neither team was able to generate much in the way of offensive looks in the third; the Caps were credited with just two shots on net in the final frame, both in the ninth minute, one of them coming on the power play. Vancouver put six shots on Thompson, but he needed to come up big on a pair of Jonathan Lekkerimaki shots in short succession, late in the third.
That set the stage for overtime, where both sides had looks, but the Caps dominated in terms of possession. Washington had five shots in overtime – more than it managed in the last 28 minutes of regulation – and the fifth one was the charm.
Playing their second game of a five-game road trip, the Canucks settled for a single point for the second time in as many games. They’ve collected 10 such points (18-12-10) this season.
“We played a good hockey game,” says Canucks coach Rick Tocchet. “That’s a top team in the League, and I felt like we did a nice job. The guys worked hard.”
Wednesday’s game marked Dubois’ first two-goal game as a Capital, and his first two-goal game since Feb. 20 of last year when he turned the trick for Los Angeles against former employer Columbus.
Dubois has been consistently picking up points this season – he is tied for 30th in the NHL with 26 assists – and he extended his point streak to five (two goals, four assists) with Wednesday’s performance.
“I was saying that on that first one, I was trying to go off the crossbar for [Wilson] to get a rebound on that,” jokes Dubois. “But that’s just how it’s been going this year. But when you’re playing with great players like this, you just stay patient, and you know it will come.”
