NHL Gamecenter – Corsica – Natural Stat Trick
Today was a busy one for the Capitals: they recalled defenseman Martin Fehervary from Hershey, and then had to recall Vitek Vanecek after Ilya Samsonov was injured on an Ovechkin shot during practice this morning. Braden Holtby was always scheduled to start tonight’s game against the Kings, but Samsonov was held out for precautionary reasons and Vanecek dressed to backup to Holtby instead. Additionally, Fehervary slotted into the lineup in place of Jonas Siegenthaler.
Here’s Tuesday night’s Plus/Minus:
Plus: Braden Holtby had quite a bounce-back game, which is incredibly encouraging to see. Despite letting in an easy goal on Jeff Carter’s first tally of the night, he pulled his game together and made several important saves to keep his team afloat.
Minus: Team defense? Never heard of her.
And now, this:
Nine more notes on the game:
1. The Capitals got their first power play opportunity when Kurtis MacDermid was called for slashing with 10:24 left in the first period and, in a shocking turn of events, the Caps’ power play is still bad! Zero shots on goal, only 30 seconds of solid zone time. Yikes.
2. Jeff Carter opened the scoring with just under five minutes to go, ripping a snap shot past Holtby’s glove. He skated in to the left circle with ease after Nick Jensen gave him too much space. This play? A bad look for both Holtby and Jensen.
3. John Carlson goal alert! Carlson got his first goal of 2020, and 14th of the season, 7:25 into the second period to tie the game up. Nicklas Backstrom fired a nice crossing pass to Carlson, who wasted no time firing it past Jonathan Quick. Carl Hagelin tallied the secondary assist, which extends his point streak to a career-high seven games (3-4—7)
4. Martin Fehervary was called for holding with 20.9 to go in the second – taking penalties means you’ll fit right in, kid. The Caps’ PK unit got to work for the second time and held the Kings to just two shots.
5. With 8:27 left in the game, Jeff Carter got his second goal of the night on a deflection right in front of Holtby.
6. Alex Ovechkin had his first shot of the game with just over six minutes to go, and what to do you know, Alexa play “Shake, Rattle and Roll”! That’s career goal number 696, and his now league-leading 38th of the season. T.J. Oshie notched the single assist on the tally, his 19th helper of the season. Tie game, y’all!
7. Hey Alexa, play “Shake, Rattle and Roll” TIMES TWO. That’s right, another multi-goal game for the Great 8 with the 697th goal of his NHL career. He followed up on his own rebound after Quick mishandled the puck and made sure he didn’t miss a second time.
8. A third period natural hat trick for Alex Ovechkin? A third period natural hat trick for Alex Ovechkin! The chase to 700 is down to two after Ovechkin completed his hatty with an empty net tally. This is nuts, guys. 27th career hat trick and 40 goals on the season for Ovi, which makes this his 11th 40-goal season in the NHL. The only person with more? Some dude named Wayne Gretzky.
9. Ovechkin has 14 goals in his last seven games. That’s it, that’s the tweet.
Up next for the Caps: the Capitals have three days off before hosting the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena on Saturday night.