Caps Smack Kraken, 5-2

Conor Sheary scored a pair of goals - including the game-winner on the power play - to help the Caps get past the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night at Capital One Arena. Sheary's first goal snapped a 2-2 tie midway through the second period, and his second one went into an empty net late in the third to seal a 5-2 victory. Sheary's second goal of the game was the 100th of his career, and it was also his 200th career NHL point.

With a 29-save night in the Washington nets, Vitek Vanecek was sharp once again, earning his 12th win of the season and improving to 7-4-0 in his last 11 decisions.
"There were parts that were good tonight, and parts that I thought we needed to be a little bit better, if I'm being honest," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "They came out really hard. They competed really hard in the first and they work, so you've got to compete at that level.
"I thought the specialty teams were excellent tonight. I thought the penalty kill did a fantastic job - Marty Fehervary with a couple of huge blocks just eating pucks - and the power play making a difference."
Washington did more surviving than thriving over much of Saturday night's contest. Seattle spent plenty of time in the Caps' end of the ice, buzzing around and putting pucks toward and around the net. At the time of the second television timeout shortly after the midpoint of the period, the Kraken owned a lopsided 16-5 advantage in shot attempts. At night's end, Seattle held a 50-30 bulge in that category.
The Caps got on track offensively just after the midpoint of the first period. Using the right-wing wall, Evgeny Kuznetsov made a sharp indirect feed to send Alex Ovechkin into Seattle ice. The Caps' captain cut to the inside, and a pair of Kraken defenders converged on him. Tom Wilson pulled the puck out of the pile and made another move to the middle, backhanding the puck home as he was launched through the air at 11:30 of the first.

"I saw [Ovechkin] toe-dragging," recounts Wilson, "so then it came to me and I tried toe-dragging. And it worked out. Sometimes it happens; once in a while."
On the very next shift, the Caps doubled their lead. With Washington occupying Kraken territory, Nick Jensen crept up from the right point with the puck. Unable to find a shooting lane, he fed Nic Dowd down low, just above the goal line on the left side. Dowd didn't have much of an angle, so he teed up Dmitry Orlov for a one-timer from just above the left circle. Orlov cranked it through the five-hole of Kraken goalie Chris Driedger. Orlov's second goal in as many games was also the Caps' second on as many shots, and second in a span of 34 seconds.
Washington killed off a Seattle power play late in the first, but less than a minute later the Kraken got on the board, cutting the Caps' lead in half. Vitek Vanecek flashed his left pad to deny Riley Sheahan from just above the paint, but the Caps' goalie couldn't get to Joonas Donskoi's rebound shot, which made it a 2-1 contest at 16:56 of the first.
Seattle struck again off the rush in the first minute of the middle frame, tying the game at 2-2. Colin Blackwell netted the tying tally, cutting to the middle and beating Vanecek on the stick side at the 58-second mark.
Midway through the second, the Caps went on their own first power play of the game. It took nearly the entirety of the two minutes, but Washington vaulted back in front. The Caps teed up half a dozen shots during the man advantage, getting five of them on net. With time winding down to less than 10 seconds on the power play, Ovechkin's shot from the office was blocked. Wilson retrieved and fired, and Driedger made the save. Conor Sheary was perfectly positioned for the rebound, and he buried it for a 3-2 Caps lead at 11:48, with seven seconds remaining on the manpower advantage.

"We didn't get a clear towards the end of that first PK," says Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. "They really didn't have much, but they found a rebound. So credit to them on the back door."
On a carryover power play early in the third, the Caps restored their two-goal cushion when John Carlson teed up Ovechkin for a one-timer from his left dot office, making it a 4-2 game at the 47-second mark of the third.
Seattle never quit, but the Kraken doesn't quite have the finish to go with its tenacity on the forecheck and its diligence in the offensive zone. For the second time in as many starts, Vanecek faced his highest workload in the third - a dozen shots on this night - and he stopped them all.
With 2:10 left in the final frame, Sheary got hold of a loose puck and easily outdistanced the Kraken pursuit to the vacant cage for his milestone marker, giving the Caps their second straight victory.

"Defensively, we worked hard," says Hakstol. "In terms of our play with the puck, we generated enough offensive-zone time for sure. You don't win a game because of offensive-zone time, but we had some opportunities out of that as well, doing it the hard way and finding ways to get inside for tips. We just couldn't find another rebound, especially as the game was tied."