It is a modest stretch of games and not one that will make the Capitals forget a trying six weeks of hockey.
But it is a start nonetheless and one Washington needed as the calendar soon flips to 2012. Star winger Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals for the third time this season and appears to be finding his form at the perfect time. Nicklas Backstrom added the other goal as the top line, including Alexander Semin, had another productive night in a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday at Verizon Center.
The Caps (19-15-2, 40 points) moved up a spot to 10th place in the Eastern Conference. They also pulled to within five points of the Florida Panthers, who lead the Southeast Division, but fell at home to the New York Rangers on Friday 4-1. Washington also has two games in hand on Florida (19-12-7, 45 points). Buffalo (17-17-3, 37 points) failed to jump the Caps in the standings and now sits in 11th place.
“It was good effort again tonight. Lot of emotion in the first period,” goalie Tomas Vokoun said after his 25-save effort. “They’re a pretty good team. Just like us they’re not where they want to be in the standings. Teams like them and us almost got pretty soon [to] start playing playoff hockey…For us it’s a big win. They were behind us. We want to keep them there.”
Ovechkin now has six goals in his last 10 games. That’s still a modest 14 overall – tied for 25th in the NHL through 36 games. During this stretch Ovechkin is averaging 4.8 shots on goal per game. Projected over an 82-game season that would be 394 shots – not vintage Ovechkin, but better than his last two seasons. Unfortunately, even after this hot streak he’s still on pace for just 312 shots, which would be far below his previous career worst of 367 set last year. Hard to top 30 goals that way, let alone the 40 or more expected of the player with the league’s largest salary-cap hit ($9.5 million).
“Since I’ve been here [on Nov. 28], he’s been taking the body,” said Washington coach Dale Hunter. “[Ovechkin] has one of the top hits and plays hard. That’s his game. By doing the right thing the scoring chances are coming.”
The first Ovechkin goal just 1 minute, 42 seconds into the first period was an intended pass across the ice to teammate Brooks Laich, but deflected off the stick of Buffalo defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and past a stunned Ryan Miller (18 saves) in goal. A team that fell behind New Jersey and Buffalo a combined 7-0 in two recent losses, suddenly found itself up a goal in the first period for the second game in a row.
“We have to have a pretty good start. I think we had a great start,” Ovechkin said. “The second period [Buffalo] just changed the game on their side, but what can you do? Unbelievable job again by [Vokoun] kept us in the game. [He] made some big saves and we scored goals.”
Backstrom made it 2-0 at 3:52 of the second period after some pretty passing from Semin to Ovechkin on a drop pass to defenseman Roman Hamrlik as they all entered the offensive zone back to Semin, who finally found Backstrom alone in the slot. He fired a shot past Miller for the 2-0 lead and his 100th career NHL goal at just age 24.
The Sabres indeed turned the tables in the second period, outshooting Washington 15-6 during those 20 minutes. Jochen Hecht popped home a rebound on a Tomas Vanek shot at 15:02 to make it 2-1 and provide some anxious moments in the third period. But Ovechkin sealed the victory with another goal off the rush with 5:50 to play. Backstrom found him with a pass from the right wing to the left and the one-timer snapped past Miller for a 3-1 lead.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit and finally we get the stuff going and we’re moving the puck pretty good,” Backstrom said. “We’re shooting and I think we’re creating a lot of good chances. That’s what we got to do. Then you have to make sure you play good defense and I think we’re doing that the last two games.”
