Beating The Break -Not only did the Caps defeat the Blues on Sunday, they also overcame a four-day break that preceded the contest. Over the last four seasons, breaks of three or more days between games have proven to be problematic for Washington. Sunday's win lifts the Caps to 7-10-5 in games immediately following breaks of three or more days between games, dating back to the start of the 2014-15 season.
Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears finished off a strong weekend of home ice hockey against the Charlotte Checkers on Sunday, blanking the visitors by a 3-0 count on Sunday afternoon at Giant Center. A night earlier, the Bears put a 5-1 hurting on the Checkers at the same venue.
Hershey's Riley Barber supplied his team with all of the offense it would require in the second minute of Sunday's contest. Barber notched his 11th goal of the season at 1:25 of the first period - an unassisted tally - to stake the Bears to an early 1-0 lead.
Later in the first, Tyler Graovac scored his fifth goal of the season with help from Nathan Walker and Barber. That goal came at 14:44 of the first, doubling Hershey's advantage.
Midway through the third. Travis Boyd netted his ninth goal of the season on a Hershey power play, getting help from Mathias Bau and Chris Bourque at 9:32 of the final frame.
Hershey goaltender Vitek Vanecek was perfect in the Hershey nets, stopping all 29 shots that came his way. The shutout was Vanecek's second of the season, and it raises his record to 6-4-1 in 2017-18.
The 17-16-1-3 Bears are off until Wednesday when they host the Springfield Thunderbirds at Giant Center.
By The Numbers - Dmitry Orlov led the Capitals with 26:34 in ice time and with four hits on Sunday … Connolly led the Caps with five shots on net … Connolly, Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie led the way with seven shot attempts each … Orlov and John Carlson each blocked two shots to lead the Caps … Jay Beagle won nine of 14 draws (64%).