Last night’s game was quite the shootout – the fun kind, not the gimmicky kind, with twelve goals scored (two empty-netters) between the two teams and perhaps more fun for the fans than the coaches. The Oilers may have been struggling, as the Caps have been, but they do have two of the best players in the world, so this was going to be a test for the home team and it certainly wasn’t an easy win.
There were plenty of goals in this one, but the one that holds up as a big moment was the eventual game-winning goal. For the third time in the game the Oilers had scored to bring the game within one, cutting the Caps’ lead to 4-3, and they were threating again. With almost 14 minutes left in the game and the puck in the defensive zone, Jakob Chychrun slapped the puck towards the blue line. Dylan Strome was able to settle the bouncing puck and turn up the ice with Anthony Beauvillier on a 2-on-1.
Strome was then able to work his usual magic, dishing out some nice backhand sauce onto Beauvillier’s stick, who then ripped it home to give the Caps a 5-3 lead. That goal was huge not just because the Oilers did end up scoring another, making that fifth goal vital to the win, but without Chychrun’s stick and perfect timing, the puck could have easily ended up on a streaking Oiler player going towards the net and resulted in a tied game instead.
It was important for Caps to get that win, not only to put together their first consecutive wins in over three weeks, but also because tonight’s game will be as much as if not more of a test. The Caps traveled across the border last night after the Oiler’s game and now have to face a young, rested Montreal team at home – a team that could be looking to exact some revenge for their playoff exit last spring. It’s going to be a very tough battle to grab two points.