Caps Overwhelm Canucks, 5-1

Alex Ovechkin scored twice in the first period - making plenty of history in the process - to stake the Caps to a much-needed early lead, and Washington built on the lead in an impressive 5-1 win over the Canucks in Vancouver on Tuesday night. While the win was Washington's third in its last four games, the Caps did shake off a six-game road losing streak with Tuesday's triumph, their longest road slide in over 15 years.

The Caps had all four lines working and rolling, three of them found the scoresheet, and their attack was a diverse one. They scored a pair of goals on the forecheck, one off the rush, one on an extended offensive-zone shift, and added an empty-netter.late
"It was good. from an offensive standpoint," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "The forecheck goals were good, the rush goals were good, and then the one on the cycle game was really good. But without getting any power plays -- when we had 30 or 40 seconds of power play time -- we really just rolled the lines over, and the scoreboard allowed us to do that. So everybody was fresh when they went out on the ice, and I thought all lines gave good contributions."
When they couldn't get a couple of prime early chances to drop, the Caps remained undeterred. Soon enough, they broke the seal on the scoresheet, and it was Ovechkin who staked the Caps to their first lead on the road in a span of 295 minutes and 37 seconds, since he also scored the game's first goal in Detroit on Nov. 3 in a 3-1 loss.
Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes' outlet pass was blunted by Ovechkin at the Vancouver goal line, and the Caps' captain quickly pounced on the puck and put it over the shoulder of goaltender Spencer Martin for a 1-0 Washington lead at 5:35 of the first. Martin became the 165th different goaltending victim in Ovechkin's 18-season NHL career; only Jaromir Jagr (178) and Patrick Marleau (177) have scored against more netminders.
In opening the scoring of Tuesday's game, Ovechkin recorded the 135th game-opening goal of his NHL career, tying Jaromir Jagr (135) for the most in League history, and tying Brett Hull (65) for the most game-opening road tallies in NHL history.
After the Caps successfully snuffed out a Vancouver power play, Ovechkin notched his second of the night off the rush. Anthony Mantha carried down the right side and into Vancouver ice, flipping a backhand feed to the middle for Dylan Strome. With Ovechkin locked and loaded at the top of the left circle, Strome put it on a tee for him, and the captain threaded a shot through Martin for his second of the night at 11:52 of the first, giving Washington its first multi-goal lead on the road since October.
Ovechkin's second goal of the game was the 403rd road goal of his NHL career, pushing him past Wayne Gretzky (402) for the all-time NHL lead in that department. He scored his two first-period goals with an economical 3:58 in ice time, and he finished the night with just 15:48, as Washington spent just 44 seconds of Tuesday's game on the power play.
"It's always nice when you beat The Great One," says The Great Eight. "It doesn't matter what milestone it is. It's history."
Vancouver cut into the Washington lead just over two minutes later, when J.T. Miller set up Nils Hoglander for a backhander from in tight at 13:55. It's the only goal Darcy Kumper has allowed in his last two starts; he claimed his third straight win on Tuesday.
The Caps responded quickly to restore their two-goal cushion, striking for a goal on the forecheck some 15 seconds after Lars Eller won a draw at the Washington line, immediately following a television timeout.
Washington got the puck deep, and Eller put a hard hit on Elias Petterson, shaking the puck loose in the process. Eller put it to Marcus Johansson down low on the half wall, and Johansson fed Mantha for a shot and a goal from the slot at 14:35, a mere 40 seconds after the Vancouver goal. Eller's assist was the 200th of his NHL career.
The Canucks came out with some push in the second, but the Caps weathered it by getting another penalty kill and some key stops from Kuemper. As the period wore on, the Caps again began to assert themselves in the attack zone, threatening for more offense. Late in the frame, they struck again on an extended offensive zone foray that featured an adroit keep at the point by Erik Gustafsson, a lot of movement of bodies and some excellent puck movement as well.
Gustafsson lunged to keep the puck in, putting it down the wall for Garnet Hathaway, who left it for Nic Dowd. Dowd took it for a ride, looping up high in the zone and dishing back against the grain to John Carlson, who scored on a shot from the slot, making it 4-1 with just 1:13 remaining in the second.
Washington kept the Canucks at bay in the third, and Vancouver pulled Martin for an extra attacker with 6:51 remaining in the third, needing three to tie. With 4:03 remaining, Caps defenseman Martin Fehervary scored his first goal of the season, dialing long distance into the vacated Vancouver cage to account for the 5-1 final.
"All four lines did well in getting pucks to the net and creating chances," says Strome. "I think all four lines had some great looks, and obviously three capitalized, and that was enough tonight."
Facing a road-heavy schedule for the season's first two months, the Canucks returned from a perfect 3-0-0 road trip to fall to the Caps at the start of a home heavy run where they'll play eight of the next 10 here in Vancouver, starting with tonight's game.
"Obviously, it was pretty frustrating," says Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau. "And obviously we came out pretty flat. They came out and they take that 3-1 lead, and they're jumping all over us, and we weren't reacting very well to it."
"I don't know why, but everybody had a total loss of urgency," laments Miller. "We didn't move our feet, we let them dictate the play, we weren't really physically engaged. We played on our heels, the exact opposite of how you want to play."