Capitals vs Blackhawks: Caps Dominate On Carlson’s Return, Win 6-1

Caps showed their muscle against the worst team in the league and won like a good team should.

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It was a breath of fresh air to see the Caps win a dominant game. It’s been awhile. And though it might not mean anything for the season, it’s good to have a pick me up in the middle of the week.

Plus: It was great to see Carlson back out on the ice. You can see why the Caps missed him so much. It’s hard to imagine to see the Caps in the playoff hunt if Carlson never left the line up.

Minus: I was about to say the only minus to the game was Ovechkin not scoring, but he went off and scored a beauty in the third period. If there was a minus, it was that the Blackhawks are terrible and there’s no reason the Caps shouldn’t destroy them.

Notes:

• Of course Carlson, just a couple minutes in, takes a high stick to the head. A rough start for someone returning from a brutal head injury. Luckily he was no worse for wear.
• Carlson actually got the first best look of the game, when he broke in on the breakaway, yes the breakaway, but was stopped by Anton Khudobin on a nice toe save.
• It makes it a little funny that soon after Anton coughed up the puck, giving Conor Sheary the easiest goal he ever scored, giving the Caps a 1-0 lead.

• Just 18 seconds later, off an offensive zone faceoff, Alexander Ovechkin lost control of the puck on a curl and drag, but Anthony Mantha was there to rip the puck off the post and in to give the Caps a 2-0 lead. Interesting that both players, Sheary and Mantha, who have been struggling both scored first.

• The Blackhawks came out hot in the second period, creating a couple of great chances, but the Caps went the other way and Alexei Protas dished out a beatiful pass to Nic Dowd who put the puck far side to give the Caps a 3-0 lead. Protas has already proven his defensive ability at the NHL level, but he has an offensive toolkit that, if he finds at the NHL level, can end up being something special. But, he has a lot more to prove first before we get there.

• Alexander Alexeyev must have picked up something from his fellow Russian, Dmitry Orlov. He had one of the more beautiful hip check at center ice. It was nice but he’s also lucky it connected because if not that’s a a breakaway for the Blackhawks.

• The Capitals scored on the power play after a cross ice pass from Dylan Strome hit an opponent’s skate and stayed in the slot for Nicklas Backstrom to jump in on the scoring. Caps took a 4-0 lead.

• To start the third period, a Blackhawk put his hand over the puck off the opening face off. This gave the Caps a power play where Carlson, on his return, scored a goal, giving him his second point of the night. Boy, did the Caps miss him. Reminder that not one Caps defensemen scored a power play goal while Carlson was out.

• The Blackhawks got on the board with a seeing eye shot from the point. It was of course, Nikita Zaitsev’s first goal of the season.
• Vintage Ovechkin came out to play, when a Blackhawk threw a puck right onto the Great 8’s stick who went in on a breakaway and scored a beautiful deke and backhand goal giving the Caps a 6-1 lead.

Up Next: Caps take on the Penguins, Saturday at 8PM.