Plus: Special teams played a big role in the Caps’ offense tonight, first with the game-tying shorthanded goal by Tom Wilson and then the go-ahead tally on the power play by red-hot Dylan Strome.
Minus: So many penalties. So. Many.
Key Moment: How has this Caps’ team had goals called back in three consecutive games for being offside? Unreal bad luck.
Caps Player of the Game: There were actually quite a few standouts in this one, but let’s go with Dylan Strome yet again. Not only did he get the team on the board with the extra man, but he also had the best relative xGF% and SCF% of any Caps.
(Honorable mention goes to Darcy Kuemper for, among other things, making his best stop of the night in the final seconds of overtime. Huge, huge save.)
Final Thoughts: After a start to the season that was, to put it mildly, quite rough, the Caps have started to show some signs of life in their last three outings. They look more comfortable with the system, with the lines, with the defensive pairings, and the results are being seen in the standings.
Shame that this one needed a shootout to earn a decision – and the longest shootout we’ve seen in quite a while for these Caps – but ultimately it ended the right way for the Caps, who put up back-to-back wins for the first time this season.