Washington Capitals goaltender, Jose Theodore, was yanked after being shelled for three goals in less than twelve minutes in his last start against the New York Rangers on December 23 at Madison Square Garden. However, after returning to the game in the second, and thanks in huge part to the heroic effort of his teammates who rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win in overtime, Theodore escaped New York with a win.
Last night, the former Vezina Trophy winner took the more conventional route in securing a win over the Blueshirts, lasting the entire game and making several spectacular stops among his 21 saves in helping the Capitals to a 2-1 victory.
The Washington win, their 26th triumph of the season in fortieth outings, established a new franchise record for the team’s best record after forty games. Capitals head coach, Bruce Boudreau, a master motivator, did not pass up an opportunity to alert his club of the historical ramifications of what a win over the Rangers would mean on this night.
“Records are great to break, when you get an opportunity to break them, no matter if it’s a team record, (or) individual record,” said Boudreau, whose club improved to 5-0 against the Rangers during his tenure behind the Washington bench. “We put it on the board; any time that you can break a record that’s been 36 years, the players should be proud of themselves, so I’m happy they did it (won).”
Theodore, denying a point-blank opportunity off of the stick of the Rangers’ Mark Staal in the opening minutes of the game, sent a clear message to the Boys from Broadway and particularly his coach, that he was on top of his game.
“You can tell,” said Boudreau, coaching in his 100th NHL game. “The very first shot of the game was a semi-breakaway“ (by Mark Staal). “When he made that save, I said to Dean (Capitals’ assistant coach, Dean Evason), ‘He’s on tonight’. He was focused, when he’s good he’s real good, that’s why he won the MVP (with Montreal in 2002).”
After a scoreless first period, which saw both teams fire seven shots on net, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead on a controversial goal by Petr Prucha at 10:04 of the second period.
Forward Nikolai Zherdev carried the puck through the neutral zone before pulling up at the blueline. Zherdev’s sudden stop, seemingly put Prucha offsides; however, play proceeded without a call, and Prucha finished off the sequence by redirecting a Brandon Dubinsky pass behind Theodore.
Washington defenseman Mike Green, who served two minor penalties earlier in the game, made New York’s Ryan Callahan pay for his lone penalty of the night, when tallied on the power play at 11:23 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1.
Finding a seam in the Rangers defense, Green took a beautiful diagonal pass from Alexander Semin at the bottom of the faceoff circle and quickly snapped off a shot that eluded the grasp of Rangers’ netminder, Steve Valiquette.
“Obviously, it’s a play we have,” said Green, who did not play in the December 23rd affair. “We don’t get many chances to use it because teams are so conscious of it, but tonight it was wide open.”
It looked like the Capitals would be fortunate to exit the second period with a tie after Matt Bradley was sent to the penalty box for delaying the game at 18:02, but thanks to Alexander Ovechkin’s and David Steckel’s efforts on the penalty kill, their fortunes took a quick turn for the better.
Ovechkin, denied earlier in the game and on Washington’s previous rush down the ice by Valiquette, found the puck back on his stick after David Steckel corralled the puck in the defensive zone, and found Ovechkin with a short pass. After gaining the Rangers’ zone, Ovechkin faked a slapshot, before launching a low wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle that found it’s way by the extended right pad of Valiquette to give the Capitals their third shorthanded goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.
Steckel, quickly becoming one of the elite penalty-killers in the NHL, acknowledges that his role on that unit is not a complicated one, particularly when he is paired with either of his talented “Alexes”.
“When I’m out there with them it’s pretty simple,” said Steckel, who has figured in on the scoring on all of Washington’s shorthanded goals this season. “They are such great players; if you can get it to them they are going to create chances.”
When asked whether either of the talented Russians come to him for penalty killing advice, Steckel was equally witty and insightful.
“I’m sure that’s the first thing they are coming to me for,” joked Steckel, before turning serious. “They are great, they work hard and contrary to popular belief, they don’t get caught out of position very much. They are willing to block shots and it’s great when other teams have to respect the penalty kill because you have such great talent that can score goals.”
Clinging to the one goal lead entering the third period, Washington was able to hold on and secure the victory, allowing only seven Rangers’ shots to reach Theodore. Boudreau, despite the offensive exploits of his talented club, was equally impressed by their defensive effort.
“Especially in the third period, I thought we shut them down real well,” said Boudreau. “Our guys worked real hard and that’s playoff hockey.”
If the first forty games off this season are any barometer of things to come in the post-season, the faithful followers that “Rock the Red” can look forward to a long playoff run.