The Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens faced off on Sunday night in what was the 5th preseason game for the Caps.
It wasn't pretty, but the Caps managed to score in the with a little over a minute left in the the game as Joel Ward, after taking a nice feed from rookie Andre Burakovsky from behind the net, banged in his own rebound passed Montreal goaltender Carey Price.
Brooks Laich would add an empty netter 50 seconds later off an assist from Nicklas Backstrom. Laich had a scare in the second period when he took a hit from Canadiens defenseman, Tom Gilbert. Laich skated gingerly off the ice, but was able to come back in the third.
Each team was 0-6 on the power play, and the Caps seemed very comfortable on the penalty kill last night. The Habs were held to just 5 PP shots, and the Caps used good team work and smart clearing to keep the game tied at zero.
Matt Niskanen: “It was something that we talked about in the last couple of days, just details of having a good plan and getting everybody on the same page. Those little, short plays where you use each other to get out of the zone on the penalty kill, that takes time and that takes trust and communication. We’ll get better with that as we go, and tonight was pretty good with that. We relieved a lot of pressure that way.… (washingtoncapitals.com)
The Caps also got good goaltending from Justin Peters, who started the game, and Braden Holtby. Peters only saw 7 shots in a period and a half of play, while Holtby, who came on in the middle of the second period, stopped all 11 shots he faced.
Carey Price was also very solid in this game as he stopped 29 of 30 Capitals shots. Price, who was injured in the playoffs last season, played in his first, full game since the injury:
"It's nice to get a full workload, to see some shots, work on my timing a little bit. It's something that really leaves you during the summertime. It's probably the hardest thing to get back, that pace of the game." (TSN)
Center, Jay Beagle, was hurt in the second and did not return. The other Caps centers took turns playing with Beagles linemates, Chris Brown and Nathan Walker.
Caps defenseman Nate Schmidt took a nasty elbow to the head from Habs defenseman Jared Tinordi. Chris Brown quickly stepped up and dropped the gloves with Tinordi, which impressed Caps head coach Barry Trotz.
"You have to pick up your teammates, and that was a big example. We never want to leave a man behind, type of thing. Schmidt took a big hit, and the cavalry came out to help him. That's the mentality you want." (TSN)
The Caps didn't look strong in the game, but they did have a lot of chances. There are three preseason games left until opening night, and the Caps are now 3-2 in preseason play.
Ovechkin had 2 shots on goal in 19:28 of ice time. Andre Burakovsky, who assisted on the Ward goal, had 19:27 of ice and 2 shots.
Carey Price received first star honors, while John Carlson (4 shots, +1) and Alex Galchenyuk (3 Shots) picked up second and third stars respectively.
Caps play Buffalo on Wednesday at 7pm.
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Caps have placed on Waivers: Mike Moore, John Landrey and Tim Kennedy
More to come...
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