POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Caps 5, Jets 2

Expecting To Fly -Wins in the National Hockey League are worth two points each, but occasionally there can be a bit more underlying value in a victory. Such was the case for the Capitals on Friday night in Winnipeg when they claimed a 5-2 victory over the Jets, their first win here in over five years.

The postgame fist-bump line was a bit more emphatic after Friday's victory, and the postgame locker room celebration was a bit more raucous than usual, and why not? This win was a little more satisfying than most. It was achieved by the hands of many and under adverse circumstances.
For more than two months now, the Caps have been dealing with the absence of a regular player or two or five on a virtually nightly basis. Last Saturday night in Buffalo, the number climbed to six missing regulars for the first time, and by the time the Caps reached the end of a three-game road tour in Winnipeg on Friday night, the number of absences climbed to seven for the first time. It also included both Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov for the first time.
Backstrom missed the first 28 games of the season while rehabbing an ailing hip, and he finally returned to the lineup on Wednesday night in Chicago. But that same day, Kuznetsov was placed into the COVID-19 protocol. The Caps would have to wait to have both of their top two center men in the lineup.
After twice postponing travel from Chicago to Winnipeg for Friday's trip finale against the Jets, the Caps finally flew north on Friday morning, taking the ultra-rare step of traveling on the day of a game. But when they departed the Windy City at last, they did so without Backstrom, who was placed into protocol on Friday. Barely a day after making his season debut in Chicago, Backstrom was back on the sidelines again.
Despite the upheaval in their travel schedule and the uncertainty surrounding their lineup, the Caps did what they've been doing all season in Friday's game against the Jets, they played well enough to give themselves a chance to win, and they managed to find a way to get it done in the end.
Everyone who pulled a sweater on for Washington on Friday had a hand in the victory, but none more so than goaltender Vitek Vanecek, whose 40-save performance included probably half a dozen stellar stops on the Jets' most accomplished snipers.
After a scoreless first in which the Caps held a territorial and possession edge, the Jets - playing their first game under interim head coach Dave Lowry - tilted the ice on Washington, outshooting them 20-9 in the middle frame. But the Caps outscored the Jets 2-1 in the middle period, getting goals from Brett Leason and Daniel Sprong while Vanecek held the Jets at bay.
Winnipeg tied the game on a power play early in the third, but the Caps and Vanecek made sure that the Jets weren't able to seize momentum with that Josh Morrissey goal.
On Wednesday in Chicago, Conor Sheary came through in the clutch, scoring a game-tying goal with three seconds left in regulation that enabled the Caps to pull a point from a game in which they trailed 3-1 late in the second period. Two nights later, Sheary netted another timely tally midway through the third, restoring the Washington lead at 9:09 of the third.
That would be enough to get it done. Late empty-netters from Mike Sgarbossa and Alex Ovechkin took some pressure off Vanecek and accounted for the 5-2 final.
Defensively, the Caps helped Vanecek out with some great sticks and positioning; 13 different Washington skaters combined to block 20 Winnipeg shots in addition to the 40 that Washington's sophomore goaltender stopped.
No matter who is in or out of the lineup for Washington, and no matter what other circumstances or adversity might be in play, the expectations remain the same for the Capitals. They expect to fly, every night.
"They were they were really good tonight," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette "I think our guys are having fun; they're playing hard and they're having fun.
"You know, the circumstances were a little bit tougher for this one, just leaving some guys behind and traveling [on game day] and all that. But it doesn't seem to matter what happens, our guys step up.
"You look at the contributions tonight from [Dennis] Cholowski helping out, Matty Irwin chipping in an assist, Leason played great; he played really good. Sgarbossa was really good. These guys came in and when we needed a big performance, [because] our big guys weren't in the lineup. We needed more than that, and those guys delivered. That was probably one of our best wins of the year. Not necessarily by being perfect, but just by being really gutsy."
Change Partners -Sprong and Sheary started the game as linemates, flanking Connor McMichael. They ended the game on separate lines, but both players had an impact on the contest for the second time in as many games.
The Caps started the night with 18 healthy skaters, but seven of them were defensemen, so they went with an 11-forward/seven-defenseman deployment. Washington used Matt Irwin as a swing guy who would take the odd shift up front while also occasionally stepping in on the blueline and killing penalties.
With Winnipeg pushing hard to rally from a two-goal deficit in the second, Laviolette made some prescient in-game adjustments to his lineup.
"I thought we were just a little bit loose in the second period," says Laviolette. "Sometimes it's not about the guys that didn't play. It's not about who we took out, it was about who was going. And sometimes when you drop down to three lines, you can get into a rhythm; you can get into a little bit of a better rhythm. They're going out, they come back, they breathe, and then they go back out there. We just chopped it down, and I thought that the combinations that we put together in the third were really good. They were strong defensively and now we're generating more offensively, certainly from the second period."
Sprong scored his second short-side snipe of a goal in as many games, and Sheary came up with his second big marker of the trip, too. He started the night playing with T.J. Oshie and Connor McMichael, and he finished with Oshie and Aliaksei Protas, who picked up an assist in the game.
Facing a Winnipeg team that features Mark Scheifele and Pierre-Luc Dubois as its top two centers, the Caps went into the game missing three of their four regular pivots. Lars Eller centered Washington's top line, but behind him in the middle of the ice, the Caps had McMichael, Protas and Sgarbossa, a trio that entered Friday's game with a combined total of 107 games worth of NHL experience.
Protas, Leason and Sgarbossa all started the season in Hershey. They combined for five points (two goals, three assists) in Friday's game.
"Pro is obviously a big strong guy," says Sheary. "He's pretty good on draws. And for a young kid, he's pretty responsible. I think he played well in the middle tonight, and Osh and I have played together for a few games now - whether it's to start the game or throughout the game - so I think we have some good chemistry and know each other out on the ice. The three of us just meshed well in the third, and we were able to get that one."
Starting Point -Cholowski assisted on Sheary's game-winner and Irwin had a secondary helper on Leason's goal, as both blueliners recorded their first points in a Caps uniform against the Jets. The Caps have deployed 28 different skaters this season, and all 28 have now recorded a point.
Down On The Farm -The AHL Hershey Bears were on the road as well on Friday night, facing the Thunderbirds in Springfield. Behind a 28-save performance from Pheonix Copley in the Hershey nets, the Bears blanked their hosts, 2-0.
At 15:27 of the first period, Mike Vecchione gave Copley all the offensive support he would require, scoring his second goal of the season with help from Joe Snively and Michal Kempny.
Late in the second, Matt Moulson supplied an insurance tally, his fourth goal of the season. Moulson's goal came with help from Snively and Garrett Pilon at 16:23 of the second.
With the victory, Copley improved to 7-4-1 on the season. Hershey is back in action on Saturday night when it hosts the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Giant Center.
By The Numbers - Dmitry Orlov led the Caps with 22:11 in ice time … Ovechkin led the Caps with eight shots on net and 11 shot attempts … Nick Jensen led the Caps with three hits … Protas led Washington with three blocked shots … Sgarbossa won eight of 12 (67 percent) face-offs.