Washington Capitals (27-15-5 59pts) v. Chicago Blackhawks (16-24-9 41pts)
Game Recap:
The Washington Capitals started the game strong as they drew an early penalty, but despite generating some really good opportunities the Capitals would not be able to capitalize on their first powerplay. But the Chicago Blackhawks would be able to weather the Capitals early surge as a great individual effort by Brandon Saad to break past the Capitals defense to get the first goal of the game. Then 80 seconds later Jonathan Toews would feed Patrick Kane for his 28th of the season and a 2-0 Blackhawks lead. However, the Capitals would respond with a goal of their own as Brooks Orpik throws the puck on net and gets past Collin Delia to cut the lead to one, but then 28 seconds later, the Blackhawks would get their two goal lead back when Dmitry Orlov accidentally batted the puck into the net while trying to knock it out of the air.
The start of the second period would not be kind to the Capitals as another defensive breakdown would leave Alex DeBrincat open to give the Blackhawks a 4-1 lead. However, the Capitals would show some life and with a strong shift from Lars Eller, Tom Wilson, and Jakub Vrana would generate some scoring chances. then some fireworks would take place as both teams would get into some rough stuff with coincidentals being given to both sides. Then after the dust settled, Michal Kempny would be called for hooking, but the Capitals would kill the penalty. Then a bit later, Orlov would throw a shot from a a bad angle and beat Delia to cut the Blackhawks lead to 2.
The Capitals would start the period very well when Orlov would tee up John Carlson for a one timer to give the Capitals their third goal of the game, but the Blackhawks would respond right away as Nicklas Backstrom would take an ill advised penalty that lead to a Patrick Kane powerplay goal. Then on another defensive breakdown Jonathan Toews would score his second of the game to give the Blackhawks a three goal lead. However, the Capitals would not lie down as they would get another goal from Carlson on a great play. Then Matt Niskanen would score off of a great play set up by Travis Boyd as the Capitals cut the Blackhawks lead to one. However, some sloppy play by Orlov agaist Toews one on one would result in Toews netting his third of the game to give Chicago the 7-5 lead. Then Dylan Strome would net the empty netter to ice the game for the Blackhawks 8-5, and giving the Capitals their fifth consecutive loss.
Lineups:
Washington Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana — Lars Eller — Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson — Nic Dowd — Devante Smith-Pelly
Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson
Michal Kempny — Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik — Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched: Travis Boyd, Dmitrij Jaskin, Jonas Siegenthaler
Injured: Christian Djoos (thigh)
Chicago Blackhawks:
Drake Caggiula — Jonathan Toews — Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat — Dylan Strome — Dominik Kahun
Brandon Saad — David Kampf — Marcus Kruger
John Hayden — Artem Anisimov — Chris Kunitz
Duncan Keith — Brent Seabrook
Carl Dahlstrom — Connor Murphy
Slater Koekkoek — Erik Gustafsson
Collin Delia
Cam Ward
Scratched: Henri Jokiharju
Injured: Corey Crawford (concussion), Gustav Forsling (upper torso), Brendan Perlini (concussion protocol)
First Period:
Blackhawks Penalty – 1:39 – Erik Gustafsson 2 minutes for Cross Checking
Blackhawks Goal – 6:36 – Brandon Saad (15) from David Kampf (12)
Blackhawks Goal – 7:56 – Patrick Kane (28) from Jonathan Toews (25) and Brent Seabrook (14)
Capitals Goal – 14:25 – Brooks Orpik (2) from Brett Connolly (16) and Lars Eller (15)
Blackhawks Goal – 14:53 – Jonathan Toews (19) from unassisted
End of 1st – WAS – 1 CHI – 3
Shots 15 09
Faceoffs 09 06
Hits 15 11
PP 0/1 0/0
Second Period:
Blackhawks Goal – 2:30 – Alex DeBrincat (25) from Dylan Strome (13) and Duncan Keith (20)
Capitals Penalty – 4:44 – Alex Ovechkin 2 minutes for Roughing
Blackhawks Penalty – 4:44 – Connor Murphy 2 minutes for Roughing
Blackhawks Penalty – 5:23 – David Kampf 2 minutes for Hooking
Blackhawks Penalty – 5:23 – Duncan Keith 2 minutes for Slashing
Capitals Penalty – 5:23 – Tom Wilson 2 minutes for Roughing
Capitals Penalty – 5:23 – Devante Smith-Pelly 2 minutes for Unsportsmanlike Conduct
Capitals Penalty – 9:24 – Michal Kempny 2 minutes for Hooking
Capitals Goal – 15:24 – Dmitry Orlov (3) from Matt Niskanen (12) and Andre Burakovsky (5)
End of 2nd – WAS – 2 CHI – 4
Shots 24 21
Faceoffs 15 19
Hits 26 19
PP 0/1 0/1
Third Period:
Capitals Goal – 3:09 – John Carlson (7) from Dmitry Orlov (12) and TJ Oshie (8)
Capitals Penalty – 3:32 – Nicklas Backstrom 2 minutes for Hooking
Blackhawks PPG – 3:45 – Patrick Kane (29) from Jonathan Toews (26) and Dylan Strome (14)
Blackhawks Penalty – 4:21 – Artem Anisimov 2 minutes for Delay of Game
Blackhawks Goal – 7:20 – Jonathan Toews (20) from Patrick Kane (39) and Carl Dahlstrom (6)
Capitals Goal – 10:38 – John Carlson (8) from Nicklas Backstrom (35) and TJ Oshie (9)
Capitals Goal – 13:55 – Matt Niskanen (6) from Travis Boyd (10) and Andre Burakovsky (6)
Blackhawks Goal – 14:57 – Jonathan Toews (21) from Patrick Kane (40)
Blackhawks ENG – 18:11 – Dylan Strome (11) from unassisted
End of 3rd – WAS – 5 CHI – 8
Shots 39 28
Faceoffs 29 33
Hits 35 29
PP 0/2 1/2
Next Up:
Washington (27-16-5 59pts) v. San Jose (28-15-7 63pts)
Chicago (17-24-9 43pts) v. NY Islanders (28-15-4 60pts)
