Caps Host Wings

Caps Host Wings

Blog Article

Following a swift and successful journey to Manhattan where they earned a 3-2 overtime victory over the Rangers, the Caps are back at home on Friday night, opening a quick two-game homestand against the Detroit Red Wings. Friday’s visit from the Wings is the first of two from the Detroiters this month; they’ll be back at copyright Arena on March 18 to close out the season’s series between the two clubs.

Friday’s game against the Wings and Sunday’s homestand finale against Seattle finishes up a home heavy stretch in which Washington plays seven of eight games on home ice. The Caps depart the District after facing Seattle; they’ll be on the road in California all next week.

Wednesday’s visit to Manhattan to face the Rangers turned out to be a honey of a hockey game before a lively sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden and a national television audience. The Caps took an early lead on a P-L Dubois goal at 1:04 of the first, but they found themselves down 2-1 before the midpoint of the second period.

Not to worry, kid. During a Washington power play midway through the third period, Alex Ovechkin pounced on and buried a loose puck in a spirited post-faceoff battle for possession. Ovechkin’s 32nd goal of the season tied the game at 2-2, shrinking the distance between himself (885 career NHL goals) and Wayne Gretzky (894) to single digits with 20 games remaining in the season.

“Our bench,” begins Caps winger Tom Wilson, “everyone kind of jumps through the roof whenever he finds the back of the net, which is fitting, because he is always the most excited guy on the ice when anybody else scores.

“It’s a lot of fun, what he’s doing right now. He’s a special leader; he’s a special guy. You can hear him in [the showers] all excited; he makes it a lot of fun to come to the rink. Whenever he scores, obviously everybody in the hockey world is pretty excited right now. And I’m pretty happy for him, proud of how he’s carrying himself and doing such a great job.”

Washington thoroughly stymied the Rangers’ attack in the third period, and in the final minute of overtime, Wilson won it for Washington with a back door tap in of a patient and sublime feed from Dylan Strome.