Tom Wilson scored the Caps’ first goal and their last goal of Saturday’s game against the Devils in New Jersey, lifting Washington to its third consecutive victory, a 6-5 overtime win in a barnburner of a hockey game.
Wilson has scored in all four Washington games this season, becoming the fourth player in franchise history to achieve the feat. He is in lofty company; Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner and Alex Ovechkin preceded him in achieving the feat.
Late in overtime, the Caps executed a neutral zone regroup, with Dylan Strome sending Wilson into New Jersey ice on a 2-on-1 with Jakob Chychrun riding shotgun. From the left dot, Wilson called his own number, whipping a shot past Devils’ netminder Jacob Markstrom to give the Caps two points.
“I get into good shooting ice,” recounts Wilson. “And you kind of have that body clock a little bit as you’re getting closer to the net; you know you can turn and shoot it. I was thinking, ‘Wait, and then try to get it over [to Chychrun],’ and then at the last second, I just wanted to turn and shoot it.”
The Capitals lost the handle on a two-goal lead in the second period, and they squandered another two-goal lead in the third when they appeared to be running on fumes. Logan Thompson yielded five goals against in his second start of the season, but he also made a number of big saves at critical junctures of the contest, making sure the Devils never regained the lead after they jumped out to a 1-0 advantage early in the first.
“Just the way we drew it up,” deadpanned Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery after the game. “We talked about it before the game.”
Wilson’s record-tying tally came shortly after Erik Haula gave New Jersey an early 1-0 lead with a seeing eye shot from the left half wall at 4:45 of the first period. Connor McMichael gained the zone on the right side of the ice, and he fed Wilson a sweet backhand sauce pass. The big winger ripped a shot over Markstrom’s glove hand at 6:01 of the first.
Just past the midpoint of the first, McMichael netted his first of the season with a primary helper from Wilson. But it was a play made by P-L Dubois – who did not get an assist on the play – that sparked the lamplighter. Dubois beat a pair of Devils to a loose puck in New Jersey ice, and he was able to swat it out to the left point for Chychrun. As Chychrun wound up, Wilson and McMichael made a beeline for the net. Wilson tipped the drive, and McMichael was right there to bury the rebound at 10:14, lifting the Caps to a 2-1 lead.
“That’s something that we’ve been preaching really hard in training camp,” says McMichael, “getting bodies to the interior and funneling pucks low, even if it’s off the net. We want to be the first ones on loose pucks, and to wear teams down. I thought our line especially has done a really good job of that so far, through the first four games.”
Thompson made a pair of excellent stops in the immediate aftermath of the first Wilson goal, thwarting Ondrej Palat’s breakaway bid and Nathan Bastian’s follow-up to preserve the Caps’ slim cushion.
Just over four minutes later, Washington added to its lead with another strong shift in the offensive zone. With the Caps on a delayed penalty call and Ovechkin parked at the top of the paint, John Carlson clubbed a shot from the right circle. Ovechkin caught a piece of the shot, and it eluded Markstrom for the Caps’ captain’s first goal of the season and the 854th of his NHL career.
New Jersey jumped on the Caps for two goals – both from captain Nico Hischier – in the first minute of the middle frame. First, Hischier converted a Stefan Noesen feed from behind the net at the 34-second mark of the second. It was Noesen’s fifth assist in two games against Washington this season.
Ten seconds later, Hischier flung a shot from a deep angle that beat Thompson up high, knotting the score at 3-3.
But the Caps gradually restored that two-goal advantage before the end of the period, putting a crooked number on the board in the middle frame for the third straight game.
Just ahead of the midpoint of the middle period, Trevor van Riemsdyk threw a dart of a stretch pass to Andrew Mangiapane, sending him off on a breakaway. Mangiapane applied the moves, beating Markstrom to make it a 4-3 game at 9:15.
Just over three minutes later, van Riemsdyk sent the puck toward the net from the point, and Strome expertly redirected it past Markstrom at 12:33, giving the Caps their two-goal lead once again.
“We kind of locked eyes,” says Strome, referring to van Riemsdyk. “I figured he was kind of off balance and figured he was going to go for a stick. He put it right in the wheelhouse; I just had to tip it home.”
With a superb stop on a Jesper Bratt semi-breakaway late in the frame, Thompson ensured that Washington would enter the third period with a lead for the third straight game.
The Caps completely closed the door on both Vegas and Dallas earlier in the week, but the pesky Devils brought their best in the third. Before the final frame was four minutes old, the Devils closed to within a goal on a nifty Hischier cross-ice feed to Dawson Mercer for the finish at 3:39.
About four minutes later, Thompson denied Mercer’s bid for the equalizer, stopping a clapper from point blank range.
But New Jersey blueliner Dougie Hamilton drew the Devils even with a power-play marker at 12:28, tying the game at 5-5.
The Caps caught a late break when Nic Dowd drew a high-sticking penalty in the final minutes of regulation, blunting New Jersey’s mounting momentum and getting the game into overtime.
In the extra session, the Caps dominated possession for the most part, but they needed an absolutely brilliant stop by Thompson on Meier about halfway through overtime.
Wilson won it with exactly a minute remaining, ensuring a happy bus ride to Philadelphia where the Caps will enjoy a richly deserved day off on Sunday.
“A lot of swings in the game,” says Carbery. “Momentum, losing momentum, and I felt like we really ran out of gas late in that third period. They're obviously pushing, but I felt like we did not have any legs left, and so we couldn't gap up, we couldn't get to loose pucks, we couldn't win anything on the forecheck, so now it was just hang on for survival. And even to get that game into overtime [was an achievement], because we just didn't have anything in the tank left.”
“Obviously it’s not the prettiest win for us,” says McMichael. “But I think it shows a lot of character, especially on the road. We didn’t back down, we kept our foot on the gas, and we’re able to find a way to win.”
The place where devils dwell is known for being extremely hot, but these days, Wilson is even hotter.
“It’s really impressive,” says McMichael. “I feel like every time I give him the puck, I’m going to get an assist. He’s just got to keep shooting the puck right now; he’s as hot as can be, and it’s fun to watch.”
