|
 Defenseman John Carlson and right winger T.J. Oshie each had a goal
and an assist, goaltender Braden Holtby made 26 saves, and the
Capitals defeated the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks 4-1
Thursday night.
Washington (2-1-0) bounced back from a 5-0 loss to the San Jose
Sharks, while Chicago (2-3-0) dropped its second in a row.
"The other night was a pretty good wake-up call for us, and we had a
good response," Holtby said. "We had a good practice (Wednesday);
guys were clicking a bit more, working a little harder, and I think
guys realize it's go time now."
Oshie, acquired in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Blues,
notched his first goal as a member of the Capitals on a first-period
power play.
"I had a couple in preseason, but especially on the power play
there, those guys have been feeding me pucks left and right, and I
haven't been able to put any in," Oshie said.
Defenseman Matt Niskanen's third-period tally put Washington up 3-0.
After rookie defenseman Viktor Svedberg scored Chicago's lone goal,
Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin, who was benched Tuesday night
after sleeping in and missing the morning skate, closed out the
scoring when he converted a pass from center Evgeny Kuznetsov during
a two-on-one break with 5:42 left.
Kuznetsov and left winger Marcus Johansson had two assists each for
Washington.
Goalie Scott Darling, starting in place of Corey Crawford as Chicago
played its second game in two nights, made 20 saves.
"Tonight was much better than (Wednesday) night. (Wednesday) night,
I didn't like it at all," said Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville,
whose team was coming off a 3-0 loss at Philadelphia. "(Thursday) we
had some good opportunities and had some zone time and had some good
looks."
The Blackhawks looked like a team playing the second of
back-to-backs early on. They didn't manage their first shot on
Holtby until more than nine minutes into the first period.
By then, Washington already had the lead. Just 17 seconds into
Chicago right winger Viktor Tikhonov's interference penalty, Oshie
made 1-0 when he took an Kuznetsov pass and wristed the puck by
Darling from the slot.
"We just want to come out hard and set the tone right away,"
Ovechkin said, "and I think the first period was a good example of
how we have to play the puck deep and finish our checks."
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The Blackhawks owned a decisive 17-7 shots-on-goal advantage in the
second period but fell further behind.
Early in the period, Holtby made a pair of point-blank saves on
center Marcus Kruger and right winger Andrew Shaw.
Less than a minute later, Carlson corralled a pass from right winger
Stanislav Galiev at the blue line with his back to the Blackhawks
net. He fired as he spun around, and his shot through a screen in
front eluded Darling to make it 2-0.
"We have a lot of talent, but I still think we can work a bit harder
and win some races to (the) puck," defenseman Duncan Keith said.
"And I think getting a lead would be nice. That's two good teams in
their building, (and) they come out hard."
Later in the second period, left winger Andrew Desjardins fired wide
of Holtby off a pass from Shaw during a two-on-one break.
"We had some great chances at an empty net," Quenneville said. "Not
sharp around the net."
NOTES: The Capitals recalled C Chandler Stephenson from Hershey of
the AHL. The 21-year-old made his NHL debut, centering the fourth
line in place of C Michael Latta, a healthy scratch along with D
Nate Schmidt. D Taylor Chorney made his Capitals debut. ...
Washington C Sean Collins was reassigned to Hershey. ... Blackhawks
LW Ryan Garbutt and D David Rundblad were healthy scratches, with RW
Kyle Baun replacing Garbutt on the fourth line. ... Washington C
Nicklas Backstrom was cleared for full contact and could return as
early as Saturday night when the Capitals close out a four-game
season-opening homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes. ... The
Blackhawks open a four-game homestand Saturday night against the
Columbus Blue Jackets.
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