Last night’s game against the Red Wings didn’t get off to the best start for the Capitals, to say the least. Just 43 seconds into the first period, Dylan Larkin squeezed a shot in between Logan Thompson’s arm and the post to give the Wings a 1-0 lead – and it seemed like it was going to be one of those nights.
That feeling intensified when about five minutes later, a Trevor van Riemsdyk penalty sent the Wings to the power play and they quickly cashed in to extend their lead to 2-0.
One. Of. Those. Nights.
But then…well, one of those nights became one of those comebacks, as the Caps remembered how to play hockey. And once they remembered how to do that, look out.
First, it was Taylor Raddysh getting the team back in the game late in the first period with a persistent effort in front of the net to cut the Wings’ lead in half. But it wasn’t until the third period when things really started to click for the Caps (and unravel for Detroit) – a stretch of 8:28 when the entire game changed.
Surprisingly, it was while the Caps were shorthanded. Pierre-Luc Dubois started the period in the penalty box, and with about 30 seconds left in his penalty, Tom Wilson disrupted a pass between two Detroit players, sending Aliaksei Protas the other way on a breakaway. The big man made no mistake about it, bringing the Caps even:
Then it was Jakob Chychrun about a minute later, doing a great Mike Green impression with the legendary #52 in the stands to see it, walking the line with the puck before absolutely rifling a puck past Cam Talbot to put the Caps ahead:
Three and a half minutes later, it was Protas again, the recipient of a nice breakout pass by John Carlson and a heads-up bump from Connor McMichael for another rush up the left side and near-identical shot to his first goal for the 4-2 lead:
And finally, not to be outdone, the second shorthanded goal of the game – Protas clearing the puck out of the zone on the penalty kill and finding Tom Wilson, who went in all alone and calmly slipped the puck through Talbot’s legs for a beauty of a goal:
The bench was pleased, to say the least:
Just a great all-around effort by the Caps to rebound from a bumpy start and take two well earned points to wrap up the week. Next up, a Sunday afternoon visit from the Seattle Kraken before the Caps head out to California.