The Washington Capitals stumbled out of the San Jose gates on Saturday, but rallied enough to give the lowly Sharks an absolute beating in the back half of the game. They ended things 8-3 winners.
It was fun to watch, right?
- The Caps had just eight shots on goal midway through that game and the scoreboard showed it 2-1 in favor of San Jose. Things ended with the Caps 30 shots and 8-3 winners. This tells you everything you need to know. The second period was their best as they outshot the Sharks five-for-five 25-23, a superior score put them 13-2 and high danger put them 8-1.
- A resounding debut for the team’s new current number one defender. Rasmus Sandin played 21:40 in the win, was the first unit quarterback on the power play, and had his first three points as a member of the Caps. By Caps PRhe is the first defenseman and only the seventh skater in franchise history to register three points in his debut for the Caps.
- Alex Ovechkin nonchalantly scored two more goals. Career markers number 814 and 815. How many goals do we think he’ll score if he plays in the last 18 games left on the schedule? I will say he turns it up from here and pockets 12 more pots.
This evening @ovi8 update:
🚨 Passed Stan Mikita on all-time points list
🚨 Recorded his 130th three-point game (tied for 20th in NHL history)
🚨 Recorded his 27th multi-goal third period (tied for 2nd in NHL history)#NHLStats: https://t.co/gLoRa3pvfh pic.twitter.com/bWcv8XoBg6— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 5, 2023
- I called Sandin the number one defender but Alex Alexeyev in fact, by far the most played on the team with 23:07 of ice time. I thought he was once again fantastic. He did a bunch of little things that I don’t think will show up on the scoresheet. He had a ton of small one-on-one defensive wins, stuck for Vinny Ioriofired a penalty, blocked three shots and had several excellent outflows.
- Speaking of Iorio, he picked up his first NHL point in his NHL debut. He ended up with about 15 minutes of ice and really didn’t look out of place. I think he’s a surefire NHL defenseman once he gets acclimated to the speed of things and plays more minutes. His defense partner Hershey Gabriel Carlson also had a big night with his first two points as a Cap.
- The Caps have scored eight goals. Antoine Mantha taken into account on any of them. He has now gone 10 games without scoring and 17 games without scoring.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.