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 The Washington Capitals left winger continued to have a hot hand,
scoring a goal at 15:05 of the third period that broke a tie and
gave his team a 3-2 win over the Canucks on Thursday night.
The winning play started with defenseman Dmitry Orlov sending a
clearing pass to Evgeny Kuznetsov. The center passed to Ovechkin in
front of the net. Ovechkin didn't get everything he wanted on the
shot, but the puck fluttered over Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller,
hit the crossbar and went in.
"We talked about our breakout, and it worked," said Ovechkin, who
has goals in five consecutive games. "It was a good pass by Kuzy and
a muffin shot by me and it goes in."
The Capitals (5-1-0) earned their fourth consecutive win while
breaking their 13-year losing streak in Vancouver.
"We'll take it," said Ovechkin, who has seven points in six games.
"We haven't had success in this building in a long time.
"Mentally, it's huge for us to get these two points."
Right winger Jay Beagle had a goal and an assist for Washington.
Left winger Jason Chimera also scored.
Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby made 23 saves, including big stops
on left winger Daniel Sedin (on a two-on-one) and center Bo Horvat.
"That's my job," Holtby said. "A team like Vancouver, they are going
to get chances. They are pretty skilled and creative. That's one
thing we knew coming into the game.
"I was just trying to read plays as best I can, read and react. It
worked out."
The Canucks (3-2-2) endured another frustrating loss, letting a
third-period lead slip away. They remain winless in four home games
(0-2-2).
"That's never good," said center Henrik Sedin, who had a power-play
goal and an assist in the loss. "In this league, when you are up
coming into the third, those are games you have to hold on to win
and get the points.
"It's disappointing. I felt we played well enough to win. They have
a good team over there. It's not good enough to be OK. You have to
be great. Today we were good, but it wasn't enough."
Right winger Radim Vrbata and Henrik Sedin scored second-period
goals to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead.
Vrbata scored his first of the season when a Henrik Sedin pass from
behind the net hit his skate and squirted between Holtby's legs.
"It wasn't the prettiest goal I ever scored, but I will take it and
go from here," said Vrbata, who had 31 goals last season. "Hopefully
with this, the luck will change for us a little bit.
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"Too bad it didn't lead us to two points."
The Capitals took advantage of a Vancouver giveaway to tie the game
2-2 at 5:22 of the third.
Left winger Marcus Johansson intercepted a Vrbata drop pass and sent
the puck to defenseman John Carlson at the blue line. Carlson took a
shot that Beagle deflected past Miller.
It was Beagle's first goal of the season.
"We have to chip in every once in a while," said Beagle, who also
had an assist. "Tonight was one of those nights where the third line
had to step up and produce.
"We have been putting it on ourselves to be more offensive, even
though a lot of the time we play against the No. 1 line and try to
be that shutdown line. We also want to be offensive and contribute
when we can."
Washington coach Barry Trotz said Beagle's line was the difference
in the game.
"They were the ones that put the work boots on had just went to
work," he said. "They sort of pulled the rest of the group into the
fight, and we were able to tie it up."
NOTES: Canucks C Jared McCann returned to the lineup after missing
one game with an injury. ... LW Chris Higgins, who sustained a
broken foot in the preseason, and G Jacob Markstrom, out with a
hamstring injury, both started skating. ... RW Adam Cracknell and D
Yannick Weber were healthy scratches for Vancouver. ... The Canucks
dressed five players 23 years old or younger. McCann (19), C Bo
Horvat (20), LW Sven Baertschi (23), D Ben Hutton (22) and R Jake
Virtanen (19). ... Vancouver's homestand continues Saturday against
Detroit. ... The Capitals' scratches were C Michael Latta, D Taylor
Chorney and RW Stanislav Galiev. ... Washington LW Alex Ovechkin is
one of five active players to reach 900 points in less than 1,000
games. ... The game was just the second on the road for the Capitals
this season. ... Washington's three-game road trip continues Friday
in Edmonton.
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