Photo: X/@Capitals
The Washington Capitals downed the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1, Saturday night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British, Columbia. The victory improves the Capitals record to 32-25-9 (73 points) on the season. The Capitals are just one point out of a wild card spot for the playoffs with one game in hand.
The Canucks opened the scoring just 1:11 into the contest and held the 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Capitals stepped it up in the middle frame, getting goals from Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin in a span of 1:53 to take their first lead of the night and held the 2-1 lead into the second intermission. The final frame went without a tally.
LINEUP
Charlie Lindgren (16-11-5, 2.66 GAA, .913 wv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Capitals. Casey DeSmith (8-4-6, 2.91 GAA, .899 sv%) got the start in goal for the Canucks. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Connor McMichael — T.J. Oshie
Ivan Miroshnichenko — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty — Hendrix Lapierre — Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn — Nic Dowd — Aliaskei Protas
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratches: Center Michael Sgarbossa, right-wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel, defenseman Ethan Bear, Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
1ST PERIOD
The Canucks opened the scoring just 1:11 into the contest on Brock Boeser’s 36th goal of the season.
Brock Boeser guides the pinpoint pass from Quinn Hughes into the net for the early opener!#Canucks pic.twitter.com/wyknGjtKPN
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 17, 2024
And that was it for the first frame. The Canucks led in five-on-five shot attempts, 19-15. The Capitals led in expected goals for, .67 to .41.
2ND PERIOD
The Capitals evened it up early in the middle frame on Tom Wilson’s 16th goal of the season. Wilson was setup by a nice feed from Ivan Miroshnichenko (1) in the low slot at 6:01. John Carlson had the secondary assist.
Nice lil rip from Whip pic.twitter.com/k3oyCV8LPX
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 17, 2024
The Capitals quickly grabbed their first lead of the night on Alex Ovechkin’s 19th goal of the season at 7:54 of the middle frame. Connor McMichael (13) and Alex Alexeyev (2) had the helpers.
8️⃣4️⃣1️⃣ pic.twitter.com/EYqPlTQrhd
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 17, 2024
The Capitals held the 2-1 lead into the second break. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 20-17 in the middle frame.
3RD PERIOD
The final frame was scoreless. The Capitals killed a critical Canucks power play midway through the final stanza and shutdown the Canucks late 6-on-5 advantage to close the door on Vancouver.
SHAVINGS (From Capitals PR)
- T.J. Oshie played in his 1,000th career game in the NHL.
- Tom Wilson scored his 16th goal of the season to tie the score 1-1. Wilson has scored three goals in his last five games.
- Ivan Miroshnichenko recorded the primary assist on Wilson’s goal, marking his first career NHL assist. Miroshnichenko, the Capitals’ first-round pick (20th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, has registered three points (2g, 1a) in his last six games.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 19th goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 2-1. Ovechkin is now one goal shy of reaching the 20-goal mark for the 19th time in his 19-season career.
- Connor McMichael earned the primary assist on Ovechkin’s goal, extending his point streak to three games (2g-1a–3p).
By Jon Sorensen
