We talked last night about the resilience of this Capitals’ squad and how it fueled their win over the Lightning. They trailed last night’s game on three separate occasions, including a 2-0 deficit in a sleepy opening period, yet ended up leaving Tampa with a 5-4 win.
While there are plenty of moments we could point to that helped seal the victory, some key goals and important penalty kills that went into the win, one stands out above the others – and that was John Carlson’s game-tying goal with a little under 10 minutes remaining in regulation.
Just a few minutes earlier, netminder Charlie Lindgren made a mistake that would seem almost unbelievable…except that we all watched it happen (and we won’t put the video here because no one needs to see it again – and if you do, it’s easy to find). A nightmare for any goalie, and any team, and one that was threatening to stand as the game-winning tally.
Enter John Carlson, who bailed his netminder out with a beautiful goal.
Let’s take a look at the play.
Carlson actually starts this whole sequence off, making a smart exit pass up the ice to Connor McMichael from deep in his own zone. McMichael heads up ice and is almost able to elude one Tampa defender but then has the puck taken away by Victor Hedman right at the blueline, and the big Swedish defenseman sends it back out to center…
…where Carlson is waiting.
He collects the puck and starts his own rush up ice, dodging not one but two Tampa players en route to the perfect shooting lane.
And then all Andrei Vasilevskiy can do is watch as that shot whistles right past him and into the net, because when Carlson takes a shot like that…yeah, that baby’s going in.
love carly goals
— Washington Capitals (@wshcapitals.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 10:14 PM
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Huge moment for Carlson, who passed Dave Ellett (153) for the 10th-most goals by an American-born defenseman in NHL history. Huge moment for Lindgren, who got to breathe a sigh of relief that his gaffe wouldn’t directly cost the team a win. A huge moment for the team as a whole, as Tom Wilson would go on to score the game-winner on the power play (and get a little vengeance for Dylan Strome’s poor teeth) to give the Caps a hard-fought win on the road.
And for all of that, we are definitely thankful.