Caps 8, Atlanta Thrashers 1
That got out of hand. Seemed like every Caps player on the ice tonight wanted to join the offensive party. Defensemen John Erskine and Shaone Morrisonn were the only two without a point after this rout. Alex Semin and Mike Knuble each scored twice. Defenseman Tom Poti had a goal and two assists and now has seven points in five games. He had seven total through 31 games this season.
Defenseman Jeff Schultz was a ridiculous +5. I know +/- has its flaws as a stat. But let’s be honest – no one thought that at this point in the season Jeff Schultz would be ranked second in the entire NHL in that category. He’s almost caught Alex Ovechkin, who leads the league at +24. Schultz is tied with San Jose defenseman Christian Ehrhoff at +23. I don’t care how flawed the stat is. That’s excellent. Schultz also assisted on two goals tonight.
I will say this. While the Caps were dominant offensively they did need rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth to play well – especially early. The Thrashers actually had more shots on goal (39) than Washington (37). And in the first period and early in the second it didn’t look like there was much commitment on the defensive end. Neuvirth made three quality saves in a row late in the first – one on Atlanta’s Pavel Kubina and another on star forward Ilya Kovalchuk – and kept the Caps in front at 2-0. That flurry came just a minute or so after a Knuble goal. The Thrashers probably weren’t winning this thing anyway. But they at least could have made it a shootout in the third period if Neuvirth hadn’t played so well. The one goal he allowed to Max Afinogenov at 14:13 of the second period was soft. But otherwise he was solid positionally and made the saves he had to make. Neuvirth continues to impress and is buying valuable time for fellow rookie goalie Semyon Varlamov to get over his knee and groin injuries. Why rush back at this point? The Caps lead the Southeast Division by 16 points. Atlanta pumped 18 shots on Neuvirth in the first period. Washington had just seven.
“To me [Neuvirth] was the pivotal player in the game,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters afterwards. “He held us in. We got a couple of more breaks and then it was [4-1] and the rest is history.”
The Caps put it away in the third period with goals from Alex Semin and Dave Steckel. Poti and Jason Chimera added garbage-time tallies. Chimera, in fact, foiled my prediction that he’d record his first goal against the Panthers on Wednesday. Oh well. Semin made a sick pass on Poti’s power-play goal and scored shorthanded with an unstoppable wrister late in the first that looked like something out of a video game. He drove on Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg, who made the save and watched in horror as Semin tracked the puck into the corner and skated unopposed into the middle of the ice before unleashing that wrister. Great effort and shows why Boudreau likes Semin on the ice in those situations. That’s a huge distraction for an opposing power play.
So it’s off to Tampa Bay for a Tuesday night game and then Florida on Wednesday. Win those two and the Caps can pretty much start printing Stanley Cup playoff tickets. They are now 9-1 against division opponents this season and 6-0 on the road. Washington improved to 27-11-6 and has 60 points. Caps still sit third in the Eastern Conference after New Jersey (31-10-1, 63 points) won and Buffalo (28-11-5, 61 points) lost in a shootout. Pittsburgh (28-17-1, 57 points) is right behind in fourth.
