Ovechkin’s Highlight Reel Goal Saves Caps in Overtime

It took over 59 minutes for the Capitals to score Tuesday night, but it was worth the wait as they defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in overtime. The Capitals ended a three game losing streak on home ice as well as an eight game overtime losing streak.

Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau spoke about the team’s morale after they ended the losing streak at home, saying, “It’s important to get the idea that teams can’t come into this building and win so easily.”

Tuesday’s game was the first following a busy trade deadline weekend for the Capitals. They claimed forward Marco Sturm on waivers from the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday prior to Monday’s deadline. The team then acquired defenseman Dennis Wideman from the Florida Panthers for prospect Jake Hauswirth and a third round draft pick as well as center Jason Arnott from the New Jersey Devils for David Steckel and a second round draft pick on Monday.

The new players stepped into their roles immediately with Sturm playing alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom to begin the game. Sturm had the best scoring chance in the first period when he found himself alone on a breakaway against New York’s rookie netminder Nathan Lawson. His shot was just barely stopped by Lawson.

Arnott would get the second best chance for the Capitals, redirecting a Brooks Laich pass from the slot just a few minutes later.

“We had nine shots [early] and two breakaways and when we didn’t score I’m going, ‘Uh oh,” said Boudreau after the game. “I thought Neuvy [goaltender Michal Neuvirth] did a good job of holding us in the game.”

Michal Neuvirth did just that, stopping 28 of the 29 shots he faced. The only goal he allowed was nearly unstoppable as Matt Moulson scored on a two-on-one with P.A. Parenteau following a John Carlson turnover in the neutral zone.

“They were waiting for our mistakes,” said Neuvirth. “Every turnover, they had an odd-man rush. That’s the game I don’t like to play, but that’s what it is sometimes.”

The win was Neuvirth’s 20th of the season, tying him with Bob Mason for the franchise rookie record in a season set in 1986-87.

With one minute left to play, it looked like the Caps were on their way to their fourth consecutive home loss until Laich scored with just 48 seconds left. With the goalie pulled for an empty net, Ovechkin swept the puck behind the boards to the newly acquired Arnott who found Laich camped out in the low slot.

“After Brooksie scored, I just knew we were going to win this game no matter what,” said Neuvirth after the game.

Ovechkin made sure his team would come away with the victory a few minutes later.

He picked up the puck in the defensive zone, deking past Islanders forward Frans Nielsen and then keeping him off the puck as he went forehand to backhand quickly to put the puck past Nathan Lawson. It was his league leading ninth game-winning goal this season.

Ovechkin was modest after the game, saying, “They missed the puck in our zone and I had full speed so it kind of was a pretty goal. I’ll take it.”

It was the team’s first win at home since  against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the team’s first overtime win since Nov. 28 in Carolina.

Additional Notes

-       Alex Ovechkin picked up his 300th career assist on Brooks Laich’s tally. He is now seven goals shy of 300 as well.

-       In his first game as a Cap, Dennis Wideman led the team with 26:44 of ice time. The next closest Cap was Scott Hannan at 21:21. Bruce Boudreau said this was partially due to Wideman’s offensive skills.

-       Jason Arnott is two points shy of 900 in his career.

-       The Capitals lead the league in wins when allowing the first goal of the game and are tied for second in winning percentage when doing so (17-16-4).