It was inevitable.
The Washington Capitals have been struggling mightily as of late to produce offense.
Missed opportunities. Rung posts. Bad puck luck. Poor timing. Nothing clicked.
The Capitals needed a statement game and they got it tonight in a dominant 7-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Nicklas Backstrom (2g, 3a) and T.J. Oshie (2g, 2a) led the way as Washington finally found the back of the net after scoring only five goals in their last four games.
Tonights win was the largest margin of goals against the Pens since an 8-0 win on October 29, 1991.
So what does this mean?
Simply, that the Caps have a huge boost of confidence offensively, and the fact that the new top line of Johansson-Backstrom-Oshie paid dividends for Barry Trotz, who has been trying to find the right chemistry for weeks.
The Caps defense also chipped in finally, with Dmtry Orlov scoring his first of the season. Carlson, Schmidt, Orpik and Niskanen all added helpers.
Braden Holtby made 25 saves, but couldn't hold onto the shutout as Phil Kessell slipped one passed him in the third.
"It's going to give us confidence moving forward and kind of something to build off, I think," Backstrom said. "We're in good position in the standings, but we haven't played our best, so hopefully we can get going here and build from this."
"When you manage the puck, I think it makes your team look faster. I think when you're consistently going toward their end and you're not having to stop at center ice and come back and defend, I think it makes you look fast. I think we're in good shape, but I think we played a very north, very direct game," said Oshie.
More to come...