Capitals forward Brendan Morrison returned home from his team’s latest road trip wondering what he had to do to score a goal.
How about going between his legs and lifting the puck up and over Buffalo star goalie Ryan Miller? That’ll work.
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Morrison’s highlight-reel tally in the second period was his first in nine games and kept Washington in front heading into the third-period. That’s when power-play goals by Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin just 75 seconds apart put the game out of reach in a 5-2 win over the Sabres at Verizon Center on Wednesday night.
The Caps (23-8-6, 52 points) remain a point behind the New Jersey Devils and the Pittsburgh Penguins for third place in the Eastern Conference. That sets up a late-December showdown with the Devils (26-8-1, 53 points), who come to Verizon Center on Saturday night.
Morrison’s goal was maybe the prettiest of the season. He found the puck on his stick at Miller’s doorstep with no angle for a backhanded shot. He wasn’t trying to be fancy. There was just no other option. So Morrison pulled a shot out of his bag of tricks – one more likely in practice when players are messing around than under the bright lights of an actual game. Morrison went between his legs and lifted a shot over the sprawling Miller for a 3-1 lead. That goal came at 10:48 – only 5:44 after Paul Gaustad had brought Buffalo to within a goal. The play also halted the Sabres’ momentum after they came out firing in the second period.
“I knew if I could get [the puck] up it’d have a good chance,” Morrison said. “I knew I couldn’t do that with my backhand. But I was maybe a little surprised it went in, yeah.”
Morrison last scored a goal on Dec. 3 against Florida. But he was robbed consistently over the next eight games, especially in the Dec. 9 shutout loss at Buffalo when Miller stoned him on four or five quality chances. His problems only snowballed from there. Until tonight.
“I’ve had some good chances lately. And then you start to think about it and it magnifies when your team doesn’t win games,” said Morrison, who is the sixth Caps player to hit double digits this season already. “To be a successful team you need more consistent scoring from everybody, not just the top line. And that’s when it bothers you. When you win you can kind of fly under the radar.”
Not to be overshadowed, center Nicklas Backstrom scored twice. That gives him 10 goals and nine assists since Nov. 28 – a span of 12 games. He scored 78 seconds into the game and added another at 10:55 of the third period during a 5-on-3 power play. Still a man up, the Caps scored again when Ovechkin slammed home his 24th of the year after a puck ricocheted right to him.
“It’s interesting, isn’t it?” Backstrom said. “Been lucky the last couple of games, being in the right position at the right time. And I’m playing with good players, too.”
Some credit goes to Caps rookie goalie Michal Neuvirth as well. The 21-year-old won a Calder Cup last spring at AHL Hershey and in most organizations that would be enough to land you “goalie of the future” status. But the 21-year-old Semyon Varlamov has already performed at the NHL level, including last year’s playoff run. Wednesday’s game was a chance for Neuvirth to prove he is ready to become a consistent performer at this level – especially with Varlamov ready to return from a groin injury next week. Neuvirth was good against Edmonton on Saturday night. In his second consecutive start he stopped 32 of 34 shots to earn the victory.
“One of the reasons we played him was because he had a victory and we wanted to see if he was going to grow,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “And I thought tonight was better than the Edmonton game because there were more chances for [Buffalo] to score. And he got stronger and he made saves at the right times and smothered pucks. You can see one day he’s going to be a really good goalie.”
