Caps 1, Jets 0
It looked like one of those nights for the Caps. They hung with the Winnipeg Jets on the road in a barn where they were embarrassed 4-1 last month. It was the beginning of the end for then-coach Bruce Boudreau, who later admitted as much.
This time Washington was ready to play. The Caps backchecked hard. They stayed with some speedy Jets forwards. They received excellent goaltending from Michal Neuvirth, who stopped all 26 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season. They desperately needed one of their goalies to step forward. And while Neuvirth didn’t have to save the game by himself, the 23-year-old made some fine stops when called upon. He even got some help from defenseman Dennis Wideman, who knocked aside a puck that was targeted for the back of the net in the second period with Neuvirth out of position after some sweet Winnipeg passes.
And in the end, star forward Alex Ovechkin earned some of his $9.5 million salary-cap hit with a game-winning goal at 18 minutes, 46 seconds of the third period to break a scoreless tie and give his team two much-needed points. Washington improved to 16-13-1 and with 33 points jumped from 12th place in the Eastern Conference all the way to seventh in one fell swoop. That might not last long in these crowded standings. But for one night at least it was a relief.
The Caps just couldn’t solve Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who finished with 27 saves. Thought Washington held its own in the first period despite two Winnipeg power plays and a shots advantage of 14-7 for the home team. Fact is, the Jets didn’t have a ton of quality scoring chances. The Caps were better in the second and dominated possession for long stretches of the third. Shots went 9 to 4 in favor of Washington.
Ovechkin’s goal was a thing of beauty as a forced turnover led to a pretty Marcus Johansson drop pass. Ovechkin one-timed it through the legs of a surprised Pavelec, whose defensemen let him down there. That’s No. 10 on the season for Ovechkin – though until he really gets on a hot streak of, say, five goals in four games, I’m not ready to assume he’ll break out just yet.
Might be ready to say that about the penalty kill, however, which kept the Jets at bay during four man-advantage chances on Thursday. Over their last 12 games – the final four under Boudreau and eight under new coach Dale Hunter – the Caps are 33-for-38 on the penalty kill. That’s good for an .868 percentage. Really, the lone bad night was Dec. 5 at Florida when Washington allowed three power-play goals in one contest.
Back to Neuvirth for a second: He entered the game with the NHL’s absolute worst save percentage at .875. That ranked 45th out of 45 goalies who qualified. Neuvirth doesn’t consider himself a backup goalie after a fine season last year. Only the bargain-basement signing of Tomas Vokoun took away Neuvirth’s playing time. But he’s been playing worse than a lot of backups in the league. In one night his save percentage shot up to .885%. That’s still only good for 42nd, but you have to start somewhere. Will be interesting to see if Hunter goes back to Neuvirth on Saturday night vs. the Colorado Avalanche. That save percentage, but the way, is right behind Martin Brodeur (.886) and former Caps goalie Semyon Varlamov (.896).
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