Don’t look now but the Washington Capitals are streaking as they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 to win their third consecutive game for the first time this season and assures the Caps of a playoff spot on American Thanksgiving.
I spoke of a special teams advantage for the Capitals in the game preview and it came to fruition as the Capitals held the weak Chicago power play scoreless in three tries and their second best home power play scored on the Hawks road penalty kill which came into the game in 29th place in the league.
Getting off to quicker starts has been a point of emphasis for the Capitals and they got off to a great start as Tom Wilson scored 54 seconds in to give the Caps the lead the would never relinquish. Playing in his first home game of the season after serving his suspension, the burly winger redirected a nice pass by Alex Ovechkin for his second goal of the year and sixth point in five games since returning to the lineup to make it 1-0.
Welcome home, @tom_wilso!
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) November 22, 2018
Stream #CapsHawks Live: https://t.co/Wn6LWyeTGx pic.twitter.com/XF0YETiSUc
The Blackhawks would go on the power play shortly after but Washington’s penalty kill unit held strong as it continues to progress in the right direction and when Chicago took their first penalty of the game the Caps power play made them pay and went up 2-0 just over six minutes in. Andre Burakovsky scored his third with one second left in the man advantage as he buried a great pass from Jakub Vrana past a sprawling Corey Crawford.
Burakovsky goes upstairs on Crawford after Vrana's no-look feed set him up. 2-0 #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/IxgfMuGoGp
— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) November 22, 2018
Burakovsky is facing some heat lately as he continues his inconsistent two-way play and hopefully this goal will lead to more confidence in a player who admits his psychology gets in the way sometimes.
Midway through the second period former Hawk Michal Kempny scored his first of the season and made it 3-0 as he blasted a point shot past Crawford who was screened on the play by Lars Eller and Brett Connolly. Vrana has been playing great as he is using his speed more to open ice for his linemates and has registered five points in his last five games.
Brandon Saad would get the visitors on the board a couple minutes later as he caught Dmitry Orlov flat footed and flew by the defenseman to go in on Holtby from the left side and fired a shot that beat the goalie high blocker making it 3-1.
The third period had the Hawks draw even closer just over five minutes in when Erik Gustafsson made it 3-2 on a broken play as the slick defenseman picked up a bouncing puck between two Capitals skaters and cut across the crease as he deked an over committed Holtby.
Less than two minutes later, however, Devante Smith-Pelley scored his fourth goal on a great set up feed from Travis Boyd who centered a pass from the corner to the slot where Smith-Pelly one-timed the puck past Crawford to put the Caps up 4-2 and end the scoring for the night.
Holtby saved 37 of 39 shots for his seventh win as his save percentage continues to trend up which bodes well for a Caps team still having some trouble in their own end and turnovers.
Next up for the Caps is a matinee game with the Detroit Red Wings Friday at 4PM EST at Capital One Arena.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
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