Time was ticking down on a Carolina power play and Capitals forward Matt Hendricks was feeling the affects of yet another piece of vulcanized rubber smacking off his body.
But the puck moved towards center ice just as teammate Jason Arnott sprung from the penalty box for a one-on-one showdown with Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward.
“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Arnott,” Hendricks said.
But Ward made a fine pad stop on the veteran center, who shook his head in disgust at the missed opportunity. He never saw Hendricks following him the entire way. Instead, the roar of the Verizon Center crowd told him Hendricks had jammed the rebound past Ward to give Washington a lead it would not relinquish in a 2-1 victory.
“I just knew if there would be a rebound I wanted to be the first one to get it,” said Hendricks, who lifted a shot over Ward’s pads at 7 minutes, 24 seconds of the third period.
That was enough to push the Caps (39-20-10, 88 points) to their seventh win in a row. That is the longest streak of the season and the franchise’s best run since its epic 14-game win streak from Jan. 13 to Feb. 7, 2010. Thanks to losses by Tampa Bay and Boston, Washington is four points ahead in the Southeast Division and three points up on the No. 3-seeded Bruins. They also trail No. 1 Philadelphia by just two points.
“I think we’re all happy it’s not November right now or December throwing this streak together,” Caps forward Mike Knuble said. “I think we want to really start playing well towards the end of the year.”
Rookie goalie Braden Holtby put on another strong performance with 40 saves on 41 Carolina shots. Washington coach Bruce Boudreau felt his team got away with a bit of luck considering how hard the Hurricanes played. But he’ll take it. Holtby has now stopped 170 of the last 174 shots he’s faced over six appearances since Jan. 24. Until a goal late in the second period by Carolina forward Tuomo Ruutu, he had a shutout streak of 151:17 dating to that shootout loss to the New York Rangers.
It seemed unlikely before the season. But the 21-year-old Holtby is starting to push fellow young goalies Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov, neither of whom can stay healthy long enough to secure the No. 1 position.
“[Holtby] is making it tough,” Boudreau said. “Three really good goalies and he obviously doesn’t want to leave the net. He’s obviously doing a good job.”
Ruutu’s late second-period goal broke the ice for both teams. But Alex Ovechkin answered just 47 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot that tore past Ward’s blocker to tie the game at 1. It was Ovechkin’s 28th goal of the season. He now has a point in every game of this winning streak (four goals, seven assists) and in 11 of his last 12 games. The Caps have won 10 of 12 overall, with nine of those wins by a single goal.
“It’s kind of become a little bit of a character builder for us this year,” Hendricks said. “Looking back over the past few years in Washington there hasn’t been a whole lot of adversity and guys are really coming out and playing and fighting to the end of the game and pulling out those one-goal games. It’s a lot like playoff hockey right now.”
