The Washington Capitals slump is now a distant memory. Long gone, it seems, is that pesky four game losing streak that saw the team temporarily slip out of the top four in the MassMutual East Division. Sunday, the Caps completed a weekend sweep of the New Jersey Devils winning 3-2.
The game was notable for two important reasons. First, Ilya Samsonov made his first start since being placed into Covid protocols on January 17th. Second, Alex Ovechkin snapped a three-game scoreless streak as he scored what turned out to be the game winning goal in the second period. It was just Ovechkin’s second goal in the last nine games.
Head Coach Peter Laviolette had kind words for both after the game.
“I thought he was on his game right away,” Laviolette said of Ovechkin in his post-game meeting with reporters. “He was hard charging, he was skating, he was looking to find lanes, he was looking to bring pucks to the net. When that happens, good things will happen so I thought he was strong from start to finish.”
Samsonov gave up the first goal of the game to Mikhail Maltsev at 6:45 of the first period. New Jersey caught the Caps on a line change and Maltsev beat Samsonov on the short side.
“He’d probably like another chance at the beginning at those,” Laviolette said. “As the game moved on, I think he looked more and more comfortable. I thought he got stronger as the game wore on. And then when its 3-2 and the game was hanging in the balance, I thought that was when he was at his best.”
Jakob Vrana tied the score at 15:39 in the first with his seventh goal of the season. The Capitals took the lead when Nicklas Backstrom – normally the team’s top facilitator – beat the Devils Mackenzie Blackwood. The goal was Backstrom’s team leading 10th of the season.
“I honestly don’t know what’s going on, Backstrom said. “You just got to enjoy it, I guess. I think one point of how the coaching staff wants us to play, maybe that’s the case.”
“He’s an unbelievable passer but he’s a great shooter as well. He’s right now a scoring machine,” Ovechkin said with a smile after the game.
The win moves Washington into first place in the division with a record of 12-5-4. The team is 6-1-1 in its last 8 games. Asked about the recent improvement, both players and coaches say defense has been the key.
“Everything starts in the defensive zone,” said Backstrom. “That’s what we’ve been working hard on. We want to be a hard team to play against on a daily basis so that’s what we’re going to try to do.”