Backstrom and Caps Beat Blues in OT, 4-3

For the seventh time in their last nine games, the Caps and their opponent needed more than 60 minute of hockey on Sunday afternoon in order to settle the final score. And for the fifth time in those seven overtime or shootout contests, the Caps found a way to prevail.

In the final minute of the extra session of their game with the St. Louis Blues, Caps center Nicklas Backstrom took a stretch pass from T.J. Oshie and broke in all alone on Blues goaltender Carter Hutton. Backstrom snapped a shot that beat Hutton high to the stick side, giving the Caps a 4-3 victory.

"It looked like [the Blues] had two guys tied up there on the boards," recounts Backstrom, "and Osh, as I was going I knew the pass was coming. It was nice to get a breakaway for once, and nice to score, too.

"I saw those two guys coming, so I didn't want to deke, I just wanted to try to shoot it. That corner was open, so that was good. It was a nice way to finish."

The win is Washington's fourth in a row and its ninth straight victory at Capital One Arena, and the Caps found a way to win after a four-day gap in the schedule, a situation that has plagued them in recent seasons.

"I liked our first [period]," says Caps coach Barry Trotz, "because we really didn't give up much, and we managed it. We just played sort of a simple game. When you do that, everybody is on the same page, and it allows everybody to have some trust in their game.

"I thought we managed it really well, I didn't think [the Blues] had much in the first, and at the same time, we didn't shoot ourselves in the foot, which was good."

Washington had a pair of first-period power play opportunities, and it used the second of those chances to take a 1-0 lead midway through the first frame. After taking a pass from John Carlson, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin wound up as if to fire from his left circle office. But instead, Ovechkin went for Brett Connolly's stick blade, and Connolly redirected the pass to the net for a 1-0 Caps lead at 13:15 of the first.

St. Louis squared the score in the second minute of the second period on Vladimir Tarasenko's shot from the slot at 1:18 of the period. The Blues got a pair of power play chances in the second, and they used the first of those to take a 2-1 lead in the game.

With Dmitry Orlov sitting for hooking, the Blues moved the puck around efficiently and swiftly, and then Brayden Schenn's one-timer shot from the right circle clicked off Alex Steen and beat Caps goalie Braden Holtby at 5:02 of the middle frame, giving the visitors their first lead of the afternoon.

The Capitals had nothing going on whatsoever in the first half of the middle period, but they finally generated some chances late in the frame. Nevertheless, they entered the third period looking up at a 2-1 deficit.

"In the second, we just made the game way, way tougher than we need to," says Trotz. "We gave up way too many scoring chances and turnovers. I said on the bench I thought we had four or five what I would call blatant turnovers in the first three and a half minutes of the second period. Those turn into offensive chances. And we had one bad line change that allowed them to get their first goal, and it gave them some momentum."

Washington had a pair of power plays in the third period, and the Caps cashed in on the second of those opportunities to tie the game at 2-2. Nicklas Backstrom won the offensive zone draw to start the power play, pulling the puck back to John Carlson at the point. Carlson put it on a tee for Ovechkin, who fired a one-timer from his office that beat Hutton at the eight-minute mark of the third, and just three seconds into the Caps power play.

Less than three minutes later, the Caps regained the lead. Lars Eller went cross-ice to T.J. Oshie, who gained the St. Louis zone and then let a shot fly from the right wing half wall. Hutton made a pad save, but kicked a big rebound to Eller on the left side. Eller punched a shot past a sprawling Hutton on the short side at 10:49, lifting the Caps back into a 3-2 advantage.

Carl Gunnarsson tied it late for St. Louis, floating a seeing-eye shot from center point through some bodies and off others, and ultimately into the back of the Washington net with 4:09 remaining.

Holtby kept the Caps viable with a big save on Magnus Paajarvi with less than two minutes remaining, and he also made strong stops on Patrik Berglund and Schenn in the extra session, setting the stage for Backstrom's heroics.

For St. Louis, the loss was tough to swallow because the Blues led heading into the third period. But the Blues were batted 6-3 on Saturday in Philadelphia, so from the standpoint of a response to that game and in playing for the second time in as many days, the Blues' effort was strong and they will take home a point.

"I thought that we played a very good game today," says Blues coach Mike Yeo. "There was a period of time where they had some pushes, and that's a great hockey team over there. There were a couple of things we maybe could have done better, for sure, but the response from the players was very good. They competed hard.

"We knew it was going to be a tough challenge today with the back-to-back games and playing a red hot team. But I thought we did a lot of really good things and gave ourselves a chance to win the game."

Washington's win came in its first game back to work after a four-day break in the schedule, a long rest situation that has not been favorable to Washington in recent seasons. Sunday's win leaves the Caps with a 7-10-5 mark in games with three or more days of rest in between, dating back to the start of Trotz's tenure behind the Washington bench at the outset of the 2014-15 season.

"Maybe not the best game from us, execution-wise and system-wise, I would say," says Backstrom, "but at the same time, we were still in it and Holts gave us a chance to win this.

"I feel like the third period was our best. We started to put some pressure on them and we started to manage the puck, and we got chances from that. But I think we can build off this. Now we're playing every other day before the break again, so we've just got to get going."