Caps 5, Atlanta Thrashers 2
Caps stars Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were chatting before Friday’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers just after arriving at Verizon Center. Both players entered the night chasing personal milestones – Ovechkin 50 goals and Backstrom his first 100-point seasons.
“I think before the game we talk about it and said ‘Let’s go – today is going to be our night,’ Ovechkin said. Backstrom just looked at his teammate and said “Yeah, why not?”
And in the end it was their night. Backstrom, Ovechkin and teammate Alex Semin (three assists) were laughing together on the bench. Late in the third period – after a three-goal outburst put the game out of reach – the big HD scoreboard first showed Ovechkin and noted his 49th and 50th goals. After a huge cheer by the Verizon Center crowd and a wave from Ovechkin, the camera panned to Backstrom, who did the same after acknowledgment of his first 100-point season. Semin pawed Backstrom on the helmet and they both grinned.
“One hundred points is important for every player,” Semin said through a translator. “Not many players get to do that. Every player has some kind of goals before the season to achieve and I think it was pretty big for [Backstrom].”
Semin tried his best to hit 40 goals for the first time in his career. He’s sitting on 39 and had several good chances against the Thrashers. That – along with Mike Green’s 20th goal – will have to wait until Sunday against Boston in the season finale.
“Of course it’s important. It would be the first time in my career,” Semin said. “But for some reason I can’t do it yet. I really wanted to do it. Probably wasn’t in the cards today. But we’ll see what happens in the next game.”
Ovechkin was told by Caps coach Bruce Boudreau not to touch the Presidents’ Trophy when it was presented by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly – superstition and all that. But he also didn’t do it for another reason. Caps PR guru Nate Ewell also said the trophy was made up of two separate parts – so if Ovechkin had tried to pick it up and raise it for the crowd he may have scattered the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy all over the Verizon Center ice. Ovechkin was responsible for Atlanta’s shorthanded goal with a turnover in the second period – and apologized to goalie Jose Theodore for the mistake. But he responded with a goal less than three minutes later and followed it up with No. 50 early in the third period.
“The great ones do,” Boudreau said. “Whether it’s Sidney [Crosby] or Alex [Ovechkin] or whoever, they seem to come up at the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded needing a homerun and they do it. That’s one of the reason it makes them better than other people.”
Backstrom scored his 32nd and 33rd goals of the season and added an assist on Ovechkin’s third-period goal for his third consecutive three-point game (three goals, six assists). He now has 101 points (33 G, 68 A), surpassing the 100-point mark for the first time in his career. Backstrom and Ovechkin (109 points) are the first Capitals duo to record 100 points in the same season.
“I’m just really proud of him. He’s such a great young man. You like to see great people succeed,” Boudreau said. “I’m sitting there thinking ‘Nicky just got his 100th and Alex just got his 50th, who’s picking up the puck?’ It shows that he’s one of the elite players in the league and he does it every night. I think that’s his third game in a row with three points.”
Caps Notes
Caps Notes
» Washington (54-15-12, 120 points) finished the season series against the Thrashers with a perfect 6-0-0 record and has won eight straight games against Atlanta.
» The Caps posted the franchise’s 1,215th victory Friday night, giving Washington an all-time record of 1,215-1,214-303-71. Washington was 212 games under .500 after the team’s first eight seasons in the NHL and are now over .500 for the first time in franchise history. The Caps are also the first non-Original 6 franchise to reach 120 points and just the sixth ever to accomplish that.
» With 47 shots on goal against Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec (42 saves), the Caps are now 11-0-3 in games where they’ve topped 40 shots.
» Good sign: The penalty-kill unit was 2-for-2 and has killed 14 of its last 15 penalties faced over the last five games. Bad sign: Alex Ovechkin’s turnover that led to an Atlanta shorthanded goal by Clarke MacArthur at 13:07 of the second period. That gave the Thrashers a 2-1 lead.
» Ovechkin scored his league-leading 49th and 50th goals of the season, joining Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy as the only players with four 50-goal seasons in their first five years in the league. Ovechkin added his 59th assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s first-period goal. He needs one assist to become the sixth Capitals player to record 60 assists in a single season, joining Backstrom, Adam Oates, Scott Stevens, Michael Pivonka, and Dennis Maruk. Ovechkin has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in 10 games since returning from suspension.
» Ovechkin (50 goals) and Backstrom (100 points) are the first Capitals teammates to reach those milestones in the same season. They are the eighth duo in NHL history to reach those marks in the same game and the first since March 15, 1988 (Craig Simpson, 50 goals, and Mark Messier, 100 points with the Edmonton Oilers).
» Caps F Alexander Semin recorded three assists in a game for the second time this season (Jan. 23 vs. Phoenix) and the fifth time in his career. With 44 assists on the season, Semin is one assist shy of his career high. Semin has points in each of his last four games (two goals, five assists), and nine of his last 10 games (seven goals, six assists).
» G Jose Theodore is 20-0-3 in 23 decisions since Jan. 13. His 23 straight decisions without a regulation loss are the most in team history.
» Washington tied the team record for home wins with 30. That mark was set in 1985-86.
» What kind of game was this exactly? The Caps were credited with nine hits. Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn had nine in a game last month. So, yeah – not exactly Stanley Cup playoff-caliber intensity out there.
» Caps defenseman Jeff Schultz was a +4 – one game after posting a +5 against Pittsburgh. So he leads the NHL in +/- rating at +48. The next highest players are all Caps, too. Ovechkin is +46, Backstrom is +38, Green is +37 and Semin is +35. The team record is held by Alan Haworth (+36).
Notable Quotable
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau drew a pretty good laugh from the assembled media when told forward Alex Semin said coaching was the biggest difference between Washington two years ago and now…
“He’s right on isn’t he….I don’t know. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard a quote from Alex. That’s pretty cool. I’m pretty touched by him saying that. That’s very nice of him.”
Boudreau on the growth of his team in the past three years…
“I think it’s the gradual maturity and growth from 21 year old kids who were very talented who are now 24 and 25 and have gone through the wars together. They play for each other so well. That’s the biggest thing. They want the other prize. I don’t know if we’ll get it. I don’t know if we’ll get past the first round. But they will go down fighting. I know that.”
Alex Ovechkin on scoring 50 goals…
“Well it’s a pretty big number, especially when you miss a couple games to suspension and got injured. You always want to score 50 goals, but sometimes you don’t have luck. Sometimes you just miss chances. But today, I think our line played well.”
