BIG win. Down 5-3 late in the game, the Caps came back with Eric Fehr's first goal of the season with a little more than 5 minutes remaining. With just over 2 minutes left, Ovi tied it on a PP goal right off of the faceoff.
Thirty seconds into OT, Backstrom hit Brouwer in stride who was behind the defense and scored the game winner on breakaway. Exciting game and more importantly, the Caps get their first road win of the season, their first back to back wins of the season, and get the 2 points.
The Caps had their issues and there were defensive breakdowns but it was nice to see them persevere and fight back for the win. Additionally, the PP has been great the last couple of games. Last night, the Caps went 2-for-3 on the power play, getting goals from Mike Ribeiro [first period] and Alex Ovechkin [third period]. They are now 7-for-14 [50 percent] in their last six games. Washington has improved its league ranking on the man-advantage from 18th on Feb. 1 [17.9 percent] to tied for fourth at 25.5 percent.
Also of importance is the re-emergence of Ovi, he is looking more comfortable on the RW and looks to be getting more opportunities and developing his moves from the right side. Ovechkin played a season-low 16:53 last night and was on the ice for two of Florida’s goals, but he also scored the game-tying goal on the power play and assisted on a goal by Matt Hendricks. Ovechkin finished with 10 attempts at the net. Three of them hit the net, three were blocked and four went wide. Ovechkin also delivered a hard hit on Kris Versteeg and answered the bell on his next shift when Versteeg cross-checked him and the two got into a scuffle. A good, hard game from Ovi and hopefully we see more of this.
I said before the home and home with the Panthers that the next three games pretty much decide the season for the Caps. They won the first two and now head to TB to face the reeling Lightning on Thursday. This is another must win game. Given that no one seems to be running away with the SE division, a win on Thursday gets the Caps right back into the mix in the division.
We still need Laich back and could use Orlov as well to spell Schultz but it seems like this team is starting to take shape. A couple of more wins and this team will really start believing. Hopefully they can pull out the road win in TB and make it three in a row.
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