Caps 3, Canadiens 0
Like the flick of a switch a team that was in an 0-6-2 rut and appeared the most downtrodden group of hockey players you’ll see this side of Newark is 4-1-2 in its last seven games and back in first place in the Southeast Division. Read all the details from the Caps 3-0 shutout of Montreal on Tuesday night at Verizon Center in our game story here.
Washington goalie Semyon Varlamov posted his fourth career shutout and second of the season. He’s one of many Caps players raising their level of play just in time for Bruce Boudreau to agonize over who gets to play in the Winter Classic on Saturday afternoon.
“There’s a lot of guys trying to make their case, and I’m trying not to even think about playing somebody because ‘He is who he is.’ I am just going to put what the best lineup that there is to win that night,” Boudreau said. “Unfortunately for some guys – I would love to play them all, believe me. But you can’t. You’re only allowed to put 18 and two [goalies] out there. ”
One of those players raising his game is AHL call-up Jay Beagle, who had a sweet goal in the first period to get the offense going. He jumped out of the corner with the puck, realized two Montreal players had cut off any chance at a forehand shot, spun back to his left and roofed a backhander over goalie Carey Price. That’s a pretty good way to stick with the team and get to play outdoors on New Year’s Day.
“Now, there is a guy who is making a great bid to stay here,” Boudreau said. “It’s [Beagle’s] fourth year professionally and his work ethic is second-to-none. And you keep saying ‘Okay, is it going to slow down? Is the adrenaline going to wear down? But it doesn’t. It keeps going.”
Another player who was hoping for a spot at the Winter Classic was Andrew Gordon. But according to the 25-year-old’s Twitter feed he has been returned to Hershey, which will play in an AHL game between the Penguins and Caps affiliates on Thursday night at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh as a prelude to the big event Saturday. Plenty of injured Washington players – Tom Poti for instance – need a spot, if they’re healthy.
Caps defenseman Jeff Schultz played for the first time since Dec. 6 thanks to a broken finger. He was part of the third pairing with John Erskine and not with regular partner Mike Green. And he was on the right side instead of the left. But Schultz’s 13 minutes, 16 seconds of solid play should get him into the Winter Classic lineup. That didn’t seem possible when he was initially ruled out for 4-to-6 weeks earlier this month.
“The big rig? We missed him,” Green said. “He’s so consistent. He hasn’t played in however many games and he comes back and he’s solid just like he always is. You have to admire that.”
Washington is an excellent faceoff team anyway. But winning 36 of 52 total (69%) is absurd. Killing all five Montreal power plays didn’t hurt, either. The Caps have now killed 68 of their last 79 shorthanded situations (86%).
“It’s not [easy]. It’s just a matter of bearing down and having the people out there to get the job done,” said Caps defenseman Scott Hannan. “A lot of it is just a cohesive unit. You can have some great penalty killers out there but if they’re not reading together as a unit it makes for tough reads and you’re going to get caught out of position I think. Now we’re kind of clicking, guys are reading off each other while the d-pairings are working well. And when you can do that, when you can read off where a guy is going to go, where the puck is going to go that leads to good [penalty kills].”
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