"We came out with a fairly good mindset and we played a complete game," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "I think the schedule got Vancouver a little bit. They had a real good push in the first. I think we started to overwhelm them as the game went on. Defensively, we did a real good job and didn't give them too many chances. I just thought we managed the game.
"We got some big penalty kills and an important power play goal, the winning goal. We stayed on task."
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin entered Sunday's game in a seven-game goal scoring drought, his longest in six years. On the first of three Washington power plays in the first period, Ovechkin remedied that situation.
Taking a feed from John Carlson, Ovechkin slipped a well placed wrist shot past Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom on the short side to give Washington a 1-0 lead at 13:46 of the first period.
"I've had pretty good chances the last couple of games," says Ovechkin, "it's just sometimes the puck just doesn't want to go in. I've been in this situation before and it's frustrating, you just have to fight through it. Maybe you get a lucky one or a power play [goal]."
Ovechkin's 200th career power-play goal would turn out to be all the offense the Caps would need on this night.
Vancouver took four consecutive minor penalties in a span of 7 minutes and 58 seconds, resulting in a two-man advantage of 79 seconds in duration early in the second period. But the Caps weren't able to make good on the two-man opportunity, and they continued to nurse their slim lead into the middle frame.
Washington took three consecutive penalties of its own in a span of 11 minutes and 30 seconds in the second stanza, and the Caps killed off all three without incident and with aplomb. By the end of the second period, the Canucks had spent eight of the game's 40 minutes on the power play, and they were still without a single shot on goal with the man advantage.
Markstrom robbed Ovechkin with a snazzy glove save in the second, denying the Caps' best chance of the period.
Early in the third, the Caps were finally able to add to their lead. From the Vancouver goal line, Ovechkin dished to Kuznetsov in the slot. Kuznetsov quickly went to Justin Williams, who fired a one-timer home from just below the left dot to make it a 2-0 game at the 5:06 mark.
"Kuzy's game when he has the puck," begins Williams, "that's when he's at his best. He just kind of glides through the neutral zone and handles it. He's certainly doing that a lot more, and he's demanding the puck a lot more than he did earlier in the season. That's good for us."
Less than two minutes after Williams' tally, Vancouver had one last power play chance. The fifth time proved more fruitful for the Canucks only in one regard; they registered their first and only shot on goal with the extra man - a Loui Eriksson slapper from 46 feet away - during the back half of an Andre Burakovsky hi-sticking minor.
With 51.1 seconds left in the game, Tom Wilson completed the scoring by firing into an empty Vancouver net from just inside the red line. Wilson's goal removed any vestiges of lingering drama that remained, giving the Capitals a four-game winning streak to take on the road this week.
