Caps 4, Jets 3 (Overtime)
It was a nice way to head into the Holiday weekend. Even though the Caps didn’t seem to want to hold onto the three separate one-goal leads they built on Wednesday evening against the Winnipeg Jets, they found a way to get the last laugh when Dennis Wideman and Jason Chimera hooked up for the game-winning goal in overtime. For Chimera, it was his second goal of the game and he now has a team-high eight goals on the season. Check out the details in our game story here.
They weren’t exactly pretty, but these two wins at home – Washington also beat Phoenix on Monday – give the Caps some momentum heading into this weekend’s set of back-to-back games against the Rangers and Sabres. This one was a physical contest, especially in the second period. The two teams may be 1,500 miles away from each other. But for one more year they remain Southeast Division rivals and that shared history from the Jets’ time in Atlanta was on display. The Caps were credited with 35 hits while Winnipeg earned 27.
“It’s a rivalry from the past few years that a lot of guys remember,” Washington defenseman Jeff Schultz said. “But that’s part of our game. We need to use that. We have a big team and the more we can lay the body and tire these guys out the better we are off….Punishing their [defensemen] as much as we can, making them turn and go back for the puck. It’s a hard job for them. Our forwards have been doing a good job at it.”
Jets defenseman Zach Bogosian drilled Caps rookie forward Cody Eakin with a shoulder to the head at 9:22 of the second period. Eakin eventually skated to the bench , returned later in the period for 21 second and wasn’t seen again until the third period. Washington coach Bruce Boudreau insisted afterwards that Eakin was fine. Eakin took four shifts in the third period – though only one longer than 36 seconds.
That came less than 90 seconds after Alex Ovechkin exploded Jets center Jason Jaffray in the offensive zone. Rookie defenseman Dmitry Orlov showed he isn’t afraid to mix it up when he dropped a textbook hip check on Jets forward Blake Wheeler at 6:59 of the second period.
“Well, the last time we were in Winnipeg we had five hits,” Boudreau said. “You’re not going to win a lot of hockey games with five hits and we mentioned that tonight. Against Phoenix we had 29 hits and we were successful. We wanted to get into that 30-hit parade. We thought when we’re engaged.”
Other news and notes: Washington improved to 8-1-1 at Verizon Center. The Caps are 3-6-0 on the road so far. They are also now 5-1 against the Southeast Division. The only loss was Nov. 17 at Winnipeg. Washington outshot the Jets 37-25. Goalie Tomas Vokoun made 22 shots. On his 24th birthday, Nicklas Backstrom recorded goal No. 7 on the season. He has played on his birthday three times in his NHL career and has two goals, two assists and 11 shots on goal. As for AvsWatch 2012 – the Caps’ trade of goalie Semyon Varlamov for a first-round and a second-round pick is already paying dividends. Colorado lost to the defending Western Conference champ Vancouver 3-0 on Wednesday. The Avalanche are ranked No. 26 overall in the NHL with a 9-12-1 record.
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