Center’s two late goals lead Caps to victory
When the Capitals needed a goal, Nicklas Backstrom answered … twice.
With goalie Tomas Vokoun pulled from his net, Backstrom scored with 42 seconds remaining to tie the game and eventually set up his own game-winner at 2:18 of overtime for a thrilling 5-4 Washington victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night at Verizon Center.
“I thought [Backstrom] was going to do something,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I didn’t know about the overtime thing. … I don’t think Nicky’s going to change his [pass-first] game. But when he gets those opportunities the one thing we can keep reminding him is how good a shot he has.”
The Ducks led for most the night and one line in particular gave the Capitals problems.
No, it wasn’t the fearsome top unit led by Corey Perry, the NHL’s 2010-11 most valuable player, along with Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan. Instead, it was a pair of ageless wonders from Finland that tried to sink Washington.
Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu — combined age of 77 — each scored a goal in the first period while assisting on the other’s tally. In the second, they were on the ice again as Selanne slammed home a cross-ice feed from defenseman Cam Fowler to make it 3-0 Ducks.
Koivu scored first at 9:05. Dennis Wideman thought he was guiding a puck to teammate Roman Hamrlik behind the Washington goal. Unfortunately at the last minute Hamrlik cut to the front of the goal to protect that area. Instead, the puck went to Selanne, who fed Koivu for an easy shot past a scrambling Vokoun.
At 13:39 of the first, Koivu was in perfect position to play a wide shot off the boards behind the Caps’ goal. He slipped a nifty pass across the crease to a waiting Selanne for the tap-in. That made it 2-0 Ducks. And their line connected again at 8:59 of the second period. Anaheim used a passing clinic to set-up Selanne’s one-timer from the left circle to make it 3-0.
It looked like the Caps were outclassed — a difficult proposition considering Anaheim is on a seven-game road trip and playing its fifth game in eight days. But Washington (8-2-0, 16 points) found a way to claw back into the contest.
Joel Ward and Wideman each scored a goal later in the second as the Caps tilted the ice. In the end, they outshot Anaheim 40-15.
Moments after a second-period power play expired, the third line put together a critical shift against the Ducks’ top line. Ward sent a bad-angle shot through Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller’s legs at 13:23. Vokoun then made a heads up play with a long pass down ice. Hiller couldn’t play the puck in the trapezoid zone behind his goal without taking a penalty. That allowed Brooks Laich to catch up to the play, take the puck from Hiller, bang a shot off defenseman Sheldon Brookbank in the crease and then send the rebound across the ice to Wideman, who slammed home the second goal. Troy Brouwer added a third goal at 11:42 of the third period when his seemingly harmless shot popped off Hiller, straight up into the air and landed behind him before sliding into the net.
