Justin Peters stood on his head for most of the game, but the Vancouver Canucks proved just too much for road-weary Capitals on Sunday night. The Canucks took a second period surge to pull ahead 3-1 after the Caps broke a scoreless tie with a Marcus Johansson goal early in the period.
Vancouver poured 14 shots on Peters in the first, but the Caps netminder turned all 14 aside and the Caps looked to be in good shape in the second after Johansson's goal off a nice feed from rookie Andre Burakovsky. They outshot the Canucks 8-1 to start the second period. The Capitals only had 6 shots in the first and finished with 22 shots on Ryan Miller, who didn't look great, but still came away with the win.
Peters, though, kept the Caps alive in a game that could have ended a lot more ugly for Washington.
“Petey played unbelievable tonight,… Ovechkin said. “If wasn't for him it would probably be 5-0 after 10 minutes.…
Besides the early second period rush, the Caps didn't seem to be very explosive at all, most likely worn down from their road trip. Alex Ovechkin was held to just 2 shots on net and kept off the scoresheet for the 4th consecutive game.
“Some of us was moving well but some of us was not ready,… said Ovechkin. “Maybe tired, maybe just was mentally not ready, but we have to figure out what to do be ready mentally for back-to-backs.…
Costly penalties also did the Caps in, as the Canucks were able to convert on a Karl Alzner interference call which opened up their 3-goal surge. Orpik and Carlson took penalties in the third which kept the Caps from gaining any real momentum.
Vancouver would add an empty net PP goal in the third to make it 4-2.
The Canucks pour a total of 34 shots on Justin Peters, and became the first team this season to get 30 or more shots on goal against the Caps.
"That was probably our poorest game in terms of puck management and puck protection," Trotz said. "We turned over way too pucks, gave up way too many odd-man rushes just by puck management."
The Capitals had 10 turnovers to the Canucks 3.
The highlights of the night, besides Justin Peters' play, was Jason Chimera's 800 NHL game and Liam O'Brien's first NHL goal.
O'Brien finished the scoring with a late second period goal off a tip in from a Mike Green shot. It seemed to give the Caps a little more life, but it short lived. Green had two assists on the night.
The Caps return home today and head to practice tomorrow to get ready for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night, which will be NBC's game of the night. The Caps are at home for 6 of their next 8.
More to come...
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