A team that calls itself the Washington Capitals, but that does not have the most famous Caps players and that of course wore the wrong uniform, played against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
The Caps took the lead early on from – and get it – a power goal from John Carlson. The lead disappeared four minutes later when Noah Dobson got a shot through the traffic to beat Vitek Vanecek, whose name I just spelled just now.
The second period went like all second periods for Washington: bad. Zdeno Chara led Mat Barzal, who you may be in another team, the puck to give the islands the lead. Daniel Sprong scored his first goal as a hood to tie the score at 2-2 after two periods.
And then, in the last minute of regulation, Justin Schultz took a great pass from Garnet Hathaway to record the winning game.
Pette won! In regulation!
- No Tom, no Ovi, no Kuzy, no Orlov, no Samsonov.
- John Carlson scored his goal from the Ovi Spot. It was not really an Ovi survey, but I’m not going to complain, as the face of a showdown – let alone another PPG – is so rare these days.
- Nicklas Backstrom going to get a nasty bruise. He peaked in the first period, returning in the second time and then leaving again late in the third time. There will be more …
- This turnover from Zdeno Chara was absolutely brainless. I can not turn my head about it. The man has a hockey brain as big as he is, but it was only turned off when he sailed the disc on the slot and went to one of New York’s best players.
- New York’s Adam Pelech had an eventful game. He left the ice in the first period with an apparent abdominal injury, but he miraculously returned just in time for the second time to get his shoulder stuck in a big hit. Then he returned and sold a walk-in call to Carl Hagelin that eventually yielded a goal for the islands (over time). Bravo.
- What do we make of the “midnight navy blue” uniforms? I think they are sharp, but my brain can not recognize the blue team as Washington.
- In the third period, Lars Eller received a pass from Leo Komarov. Eller’s head bumps off the glass and he needs help from the ice. Despite Barry Trotz’s passionate pleas, the refs call it a five-minute major.
- Then a five-minute power play without all the fellas mentioned in my first bullet, or Eller is not quite as powerful. They did nothing.
interesting collar, vertigo-inducing angle #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/dmD10ep0gS
– Peter (good tweets only) (@peterhassett) 27 January 2021
Just a beautiful game. It was absolutely a hell of a game. It was the disaster game. The Caps have had one of their four centers since opening night.
Buncha Hershey Bears just beat the New York Islanders!
RMNB coverage of caps against islands
Screenshot thanks to NBC Sports Washington