NHL Gamecenter – Corsica – Natural Stat Trick
Leading into their game Tuesday night, the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs were the two highest scoring teams in the NHL. And they did not disappoint with seven goals between them, the Caps emerging victorious in overtime.
Here’s Tuesday night’s Plus/Minus:
Plus: The Capitals killed off seven of eight penalties. They ended their road trip killing 21 of 24 penalties.
Minus: It’s hard to find a real minus in this game outside of the refs calling 15 penalties really killing the flow of the game between these two offensive power houses.
And now, this…
More notes on tonight’s game:
2. The Capitals were scored on 40 seconds into the game, which shouldn’t be too surprising. Through their first 14 games the Capitals have been scored on in the first period in all but four games.
3. Evgeny Kuznetsov hurt himself the first shift after the Maple Leafs opening goal. It looked very bad for the Russian center, who has had shoulder issues in the past, but he came out later in the first and didn’t look worse for wear.
4. John Carlson scored two goals for the Capitals tonight because that’s what he does. He finished the month of October with 23 points in 14 games. The hotter than hot defensemen finished the month of October in second ever for the month of October, behind only Al MacInnis in the 1990-1991 season.
5. Nic Dowd left the game in the first and it did not look good. He was not putting any weight on his right leg. He came out before the second period began to take a skate but it must have not felt right because he returned to the locker room. Soon after the Capitals announced he would not be returning the game with a lower body injury.
6. The Capitals killed off a 43 second 5on3 penalty then finished off the rest of the penalty after that. If a team doesn’t score on a 5on3 they tend not to win games.
7. The Capitals got themselves a 5on3 too but they actually converted on it. And guess who did? John freakn Carlson. The dude just can’t miss right now. And no way does he keep this scoring up, but it’s really fun to watch while it is.
8. Auston Matthews scored in the last 30 seconds of the second period to tie the game. Luckily, it did not have the same effect like Kuznetsov’s late second period goal against Vancouver the other night.
8. Yes, Ovechkin had a four point night and the game winner in overtime, but that doesn’t happen if he doesn’t backcheck in the OT that led directly to the penalty that got Ovechkin his power play goal win.
The Capitals were probably happy to just end this long five game road trip that lasted nine days. That will end their very rough October schedule and they came out of it on top. Getting back home and resting up can only be a good thing.