Caps 3, Minnesota 1
Entertaining non-conference game at Verizon Center tonight – even if the two teams only combined for four goals. The Caps (12-3-4, 28 points) have now won four in a row heading into Saturday night’s showdown with New Jersey (13-4, 26 points). That’s a battle between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference as of now.
The injury to forward Mike Knuble, of course, overshadows the win a bit. He’s out for three-to-four weeks with a broken left finger. That’s a bummer, especially considering Knuble (5 G, 10 A) had been playing well in the absence of star winger Alex Ovechkin. Does this mean Ovechkin is a lock to play against the Devils? It would certainly make sense. But I just don’t see the Caps rushing him back. If he plays it was because Ovechkin was ready anyway – not because Knuble is out of the lineup. If Ovechkin does wait until Tuesday against the Rangers it will make for some interesting lineup choices for Caps coach Bruce Boudreau.
Notes
» Caps D Mike Green, so good on the power-play last year with a team-record 18 goals, notched his second this season. He now has three goals overall. “Thanks for reminding me,” Green said with a smile when asked about that production drop afterwards. “It seems like I don’t have a lot of room out there – maybe because of last year. It seems like every guy is standing in front of me. That’s good though because other guys are scoring and it leaves somebody else open.”
» David Steckel had a nice game as he returned from the funeral for his grandmother, who passed away this week. Steckel had a couple of quality scoring chances on four shots. More important, he also won 15 of 18 faceoff attempts against the Wild (83 percent).
» Let’s give credit to Caps goalie Semyon Varlamov. He was solid in the first 10 minutes when Minnesota was outworking the Caps for chances. Varlamov stopped seven shots in the first 10 minutes. He did let in a soft goal when Wild F Cal Clutterbuck – who scored twice vs. Washington last year in Minneapolis – added another goal with a wrister from the right wing. But Varlamov finished with 29 saves on 30 shots. He is now 7-1 and in his last two games Varlamov has stopped 55 of 57 shots for a .965 save percentage. His career record is 11-1-1. You won’t see him Saturday night in New Jersey, though. Instead, Jose Theodore will try to bounce back from his rough night on Wednesday against the Islanders.
» More credit is due Wild goalie Josh Harding. He almost never plays thanks to Niklas Backstrom, who had started the previous 12 games. And Harding was coming off a pair of bad performances last month – 11 goals allowed in his only two previous starts on 46 shot attempts. But he was excellent against the Caps in front of a tired, tired team. Harding stopped 38 of 40 shots.
“[Harding] I thought was tremendous in the nets,” said Wild coach Todd Richards. “That’s what you want from your goalie. It’s nice to see him [put two bad games] behind him and come in and play a game like this tonight and give us the opportunity to at least get a point, if not get a win.”
» No update on the Michael Nylander situation, according to team officials. The Caps continue to wait and see if a deal can be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction with a team in the KHL. No guarantees, though
» Washington matched its season high with 41 shots on goal, including the empty-netter by F Brooks Laich. He now has eight on the year in 19 games. It took him 34 to reach that mark last season.
» Another nice night for Caps rookie center Mathieu Perreault. Working on the third line again with Chris Clark and Eric Fehr, he made a beautiful pass to defenseman Brian Pothier, who buried the shot at 2:00 of the third period. That proved to be the game winner. Pothier – who earlier had gone 10 games in a row without a point – has two goals and three assists in his last four games. Meanwhile, Perreault has a goal and three assists in five NHL games. The Knuble injury could help the 21-year-old stay on the roster for another few days. But Boyd Gordon (back) – out since Oct. 12 – appears close and he and David Steckel are the third and fourth line centers. The return of Alex Ovechkin would fill Knuble’s Top 6 spot and leave no openings there. Even if Michael Nylander leaves for Europe and opens a roster spot, it is unlikely the Caps want Perreault sitting in the press box as a healthy scratch. He is likely headed back to AHL Hershey despite his strong play.
» Caps are 3-0-1 when they give up the first goal. They failed to score in the first period on Friday for the first time in eight games.
» Forward Tomas Fleischmann extended his career-best point streak to seven games. He has six goals and three assists in eight games since returning from a blood clot. Teammate Brendan Morrison also assisted on Green’s second-period goal and that gives him a season-best four-game point streak.
» Think the life of a pro athlete is all glamour? How about playing 65 minutes of hockey plus a shootout and then flying from Tampa Bay to Washington while trying to evade the remnants of a Tropical Storm riding up the coast. Then get into your hotel late, take a morning skate downtown around 11 a.m. and get ready for another 60 minutes of hockey seven hours later against one of the best teams in the league. Not fun. But that’s what the Wild faced heading into their lone visit to D.C. this season.
“It’s not easy to get into a city at almost four in the morning and have to get up and play the next day and play an extremely fast, skilled team that didn’t play the night before,” said Minnesota forward Cal Clutterbuck, who scored his team’s lone goal in the second period. “I’m sure it had something to do with it. I’m pretty sure we gave it all we had. I don’t think we held anything back. I think the guys in there are pretty exhausted.”
