Capitals celebrate Viktor Kozlov's second goal of the game.
Blues 2 - Capitals 4
The Washington Capitals won their 20th game of the season at home while facing the St. Louis Blues last night. They managed to hit the mark in just the 33rd match of the current season. Last season, it took until January 17th and their 46th game to get 20 wins. It also gave Washington's goaltender Simeon Varlamov a 2-0 record, after having won in his first NHL game played in Montreal versus the Canadiens this past Saturday.
The first period went by rather quickly. The stoppages in play during this game were held to a minimum in part by the referees, who only awarded one penalty in the first. You could say they were "economical" with their calls for most of the game. Late in the period, Nicklas Backstrom won a battle for the puck at the sidewall and sent it to nearby Viktor Kozlov. Kozlov put it past Blues' netminder Ben Bishop via five hole, while using a defender as a screen. The Capitals have scored the first goal in 10 of their last 12 games. Nine of those goals came in the first period. Like Varlamov, this is Bishop's first season in the NHL.
Simeon Varlamov makes stick save for Washington.
David Backes put St. Louis on the scoreboard at 9:09 in the second period. Varlamov was set to stop the shot by Jay McClement, but Backes deflected it past a surprised Varlamov. Late in the period, Washington went back ahead for good. Tom Poti sent an outlet pass to Kozlov, who fed the puck to rugged forward Boyd Gordon. Gordon forced his way to the front of the net with a defender all over him. Gordon fired off a shot and Kozlov followed up with his second goal of the game, sending the rebound past Bishop at 17:06. Just 40 seconds later, Tomas Fleischmann put the Caps ahead by two. David Steckel won a draw in the Blues end. After regaining control of the puck, Steckel dropped it to Eric Fehr. Fehr sent a centering pass to Fleischmann, and Flash fired a shot that banked off of both posts before heading to the back of the net. That's 11 goals for Fleischmann this season. He had 10 in all of last season.
Washington started the third period with a full two minutes of power play time because Michael Nylander held onto the puck at the end of the second, during a delayed penalty call. The Caps only needed 13 seconds of it though. After Alexander Semin got a shot off and the big rebound sent the puck all the way out to Kozlov at the point, Viktor passed rink wide to Alex Ovechkin. When Ovechkin got to the faceoff circle, he snapped the puck into the net for his 20th goal of the season.
Tomas Fleischmann scores goal versus Ben Bishop of the St. Louis Blues.
Unfortunately, the referees were suffering from temporary blindness (again) around nine minutes into the third period. It didn't cost Washington the game, but they lost Semin to injury again as a direct result of the refs economizing on calling penalties. I don't understand how all of the officials missed it when Backes intentionally tripped Semin, and then seconds later cross checked him in his recently injured back, sending him awkwardly down to the ice in pain. Semin was helped off the ice and eventually back to the dressing room, but no penalties called on Backes. Sure enough though, when Coach Bruce Boudreau complained from the bench, an official gave Washington a two minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for "abuse of officials". Of course, the Blues scored during their ill gotten power play. The goal was awarded to Brad Winchester, but after the puck happened to hit his stick, it actually deflected in off of Alex Ovechkin's. Washington held on to their two goal lead for the rest of the game.
Alexander Semin wasn't the only player taken out of the game due to injury. Apparently, Mike Green has also been injured again, as he didn't play in the third period. Both players are listed as "day to day".
The win is Washington's fifth straight. They are now 13-1-1 at home. The Caps don't face the Western Conference team St. Louis very often, and this was the first time since December 1997 that Washington beat them within regulation. Viktor Kozlov had a three point night, with two goals and an assist. Brent Johnson may get the next start in net if he's healthy enough, when the Caps play the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.
December 18, 2008 Photos by Luis M. Alvarez / Associated Press
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