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All those who stop by to check out the Caps stuff make it all worth it. Happy Holidays to all of you and ....even Pittsburgh Penguins fans. I’m looking forward to new stuff on Caps in 2019!! Unleash The Fury and Rock The Red!
The Washington Capitals will head into the Christmas break winners of two in a row, 14 of their last 17 games and leaders of the Metro Division. The Caps went into Ottawa and came away with a 4-0 win as Pheonix Copley would register his first ever NHL shutout.
Tyler Lewington made his NHL debut for Washington and played just over 13 minutes as coach Todd Reirden looks to get all his players into the lineup.
Tyler Lewington's family wasn't going to miss his NHL and #Caps debut so they made the 3+ hour flight from Calgary to Ottawa to watch: https://t.co/cQxUX1Kivs
— Taryn Bray (@tarynbray) December 23, 2018
The Capitals have been looking to get better starts and Brett Connolly would provide the early spark as he deflected a Jonas Seigenthaler shot to make it 1-0 Washington just 1:32 into the contest. Connolly now has 8 goals and is on his way to a career season. It was Seigenthaler’s 2nd NHL point since being recalled by Washington after the Christian Djoos injury.
Matt Niskanen would give the Caps a 2-0 lead at 17:56 as he beat Sens starter Mike McKenna redirecting a beauty pass from Nicklas Backstrom. Alex Ovechkin would also assist on the play to continue his hot play of late and finished the game with 6 shots and 3 hits.
With five goals in 35 games, Matt Niskanen is on pace for 11 goals this season, which would pass his career high of 10 set in 2013-14 as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 23, 2018
The Caps penalty kill unit held strong as the Sens went 0 for 2 with the man advantage. The fact the Capitals only took 2 penalties was a feat in of itself as they need to mitigate the calls they are getting. They had allowed 10 goals in the last 33 penalty kills over nine games heading into Ottawa.
Jakub Vrana would continue his hot play as the speedster took a page out of the Pavel Datsyuk playbook and made a terrific play as he stole the puck off the Senators defenseman and went in and beat McKenna high for his 11th of the season to put the Caps up 3-0 at 9:46.
Vrana creates his own chance with a defensive zone steal that he puts into the net.
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) December 23, 2018
Stream #CapsSens live: https://t.co/Wn6LWyeTGx pic.twitter.com/uloobowCMX
Washington would put the game out of reach when Michal Kempney would score his 3rd on a wrist shot from the point on a play even he was surprised to score. The puck hit Sens defenseman Cody Ceci on the way to the net and the Caps were up 4-0.
Copley made 35 saves and won his 4th consecutive start as the backup goaltender continues to provide quality play when called upon. The Caps benefitted from Phillip Grubauer’s strong play at times last season and this year it looks like Copley has filled in seamlessly.
The Capitals are now 11-5-1 on the road and head to the break relatively injury free. It will be good for some to get some rest as the Capitals are off now until the 27th when they host the Carolina Hurricanes before making a second trip in a week to Ottawa to face the Sens on the 29th.
Capital gain:
Dmitri Orlov played in his 400th career game.
Dmitry Orlov is playing in his 400th career game, all as a Capital. He's the 14th defenseman in franchise history to participate in 400 games and the second Russian (Sergei Gonchar: 654 games).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 23, 2018
Ovechkin, as always, was making fans happy around the league in Ottawa…
Ovi being Ovi.... again. #AllCaps pic.twitter.com/N9FC3SznHk
— Marcus Boutilier (@SportMajor) December 23, 2018
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!