Knuble's Overtime Goal Lifts the Caps Over the Blackhawks

Nearly one year ago, the Washington Capitals defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime by a score of 4-3 on a goal by Nicklas Backstrom. They did nearly the same thing on Sunday afternoon against the defending Stanley Cup champions, except it was Mike Knuble winning the game for the Caps on a pass from Backstrom's top line replacement Marcus Johansson.

"[It was a] real heads up play by Marcus," said Knuble after the game. "It would have been very easy for him to bury his head there and try to jam it through, but I kind of laid my stick to the side and he put it on the tape. It was a very smart play by him."

Coming into Sunday's game, the Blackhawks were the highest scoring team in the first period (74 goals) while the Caps were the lowest (39 goals). The first few minutes followed that script with a goal from Nick Leddy of the Blackhawks. He blasted the puck from the point and it went five hole on Braden Holtby.

Shortly after the goal, the Caps were whistled for their second penalty of the game, giving Chicago a chance to double their lead. However, Chicago's Patrick Sharp could not contain the puck in the zone and Boyd Gordon jumped at the opportunity, taking the puck into the offensive zone. With another Blackhawks player closing in on him, Gordon wound up and unloaded a slapshot past Corey Crawford for his third goal of the season.

"Boyd Gordon scored a huge goal to kind of take momentum back because we had taken penalties and allowed them to get their confidence and game going," said Knuble.

The Capitals left the first period with something they haven't had in - a lead. Late in the period Bryan Bickell was whistled for holding. After a great play by Dennis Wideman to keep the puck in the zone, Jason Arnott blasted a slapshot stick side on a screened Crawford for his second goal in a Caps uniform.

Three minutes into the second period, the Blackhawks drew even on a shot by Tomas Kopecky. It wasn't any normal shot though, as he was behind the goal line and banked the puck in off Holtby, who wasn't holding close to the post.

With Backstrom out and Johansson playing on the top line, Brooks Laich has been centering the team's third line. He played well again on Sunday, winning seven of eight faceoffs and scoring his 15th goal of the season on a quick pass from Eric Fehr.

Fehr has two goals and one assist in three games since .

Johansson was whistled for hooking at the 18:10 mark of the third period, leading to Chicago's game-tying goal. Jonathan Toews knocked in a banked pass from Duncan Keith with just 39 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.

In the extra session, it was all Capitals. Chicago never managed a shot on goal before Knuble won it for Washington. Johansson found Knuble down low who spun around and lifted it over Corey Crawford's pad for his 16th of the season.

“I still really haven’t seen the goal, everybody was standing up," said Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau when asked about the game-winner. "But I am sure Marcus wanted to work doubly hard on that shift because he felt responsible for them getting the tying goal.”

The win extended the Capitals winning streak to eight games, matching their longest streak of the season - an eight game losing streak in December. They now sit five points ahead of Tampa Bay to lead the Southeast Division and just one point back of Philadelphia for first in the Eastern Conference.

"In the end I don't care if we're eighth or first. I gotta believe the eight can beat the one. It's happened, I think," said Boudreau after the game.

The team heads out on a six game road trip starting Tuesday in Montreal against the Canadiens, the eight seed who knocked the first seed Capitals out of the playoffs last season.

Additional Notes

- The win was the 40th of the season for the Capitals to give them their fourth straight 40 win season. It is the first time in franchise history that the team has accomplished that feat.

- The Capitals are 33-0-3 when scoring three or more goals this season.