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It may not quite have been a Super Bowl Sunday matinee with Pittsburgh, but Washington and Montreal had a fun Super Bowl Saturday early afternoon game. Nicklas Backstrom’s wrist shot past a screened Carey Price proved to be the difference as the Capitals prevailed, 3-2.
Here’s Saturday afternoon’s Plus/Minus:
And now, this..
One shot, one goal. Caps up 1-0 after Beagle beats Price. pic.twitter.com/usjwf7b6gT
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 4, 2017
Ten more notes on the game:
The ole “does a puck fit through this random big hole in the boards” test. pic.twitter.com/ncL7JwZPgT
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 4, 2017
Radulov had a pretty tying goal waved off for goalie interference. Karl Alzner had stepped up at the offensive blueline, but the puck was cleared over him to Radulov, who had a 2-on-1 with Pacioretty against John Carlson. Radulov waited and skated around the sliding Carlson, and shot the puck as Pacioretty collided with Holtby. No goal review required, as the referees discussed and subsequently went to drop the puck just outside the blueline.
The goal was called off, but once again Radulov had an amazing celebration pic.twitter.com/F9OUAt1fwh
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) February 4, 2017
The Caps now stand five points clear of Columbus and Minnesota (with two extra games played) for first overall. The great percentages have made the Caps seem more dominant than they are, but make no mistake—they’re really good.
In a sense, it’s appropriate that the playoffs represent the “real” season for this team—their last two regular seasons have certainly been unreal.
Game highlights: