Coming from behind, Vancouver Canucks, aided by goals from Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin in the third period, went on to beat an inconsistent Washington Capitals 3-2. It appeared for a while that the Capitals will make good use of the tied position entering the third period but with its top line failing to put up an impressive show when it mattered the most, the Canucks returned with a hard-earned win.

It must have been quite painful for the Capitals fans to see their leading players, comprising of Alex Ovechkin, Marcus Johansson and Nicklas Backstrom, unable to rise to the occasion, despite enjoying the lead in the beginning. Kesler and Sedin not only helped Vancouver to erase the deficit, but also enabled their team clinch the game in an interesting duel, where fortunes fluctuated either way from start to finish.

Important Links

Having won five straight at home against Capitals, Canucks saw support coming from important links, including Zack Kassian and Roberto Luongo. In fact, the latter has now made 17 saves (14-1-0) in his last 15 starts against the Capitals. Like Sedin, Jason Chimera also scored a goal and added an assist. It was Mikhail Grabovski who gave the lead to Capitals at 1:52. However, that was short-lived as Kesler came back with a pleasing show by burying a rebound later.

Soon after the match, Capitals’ Backstrom, who ended without a point against his name and a minus-2 rating, opined that his team paid a heavy price for making bad shifts. “Two bad shifts from our line cost us the game”, he said. Capitals showed how vulnerable they are when it came to finding a way out of their own zone during rival attack. The losers also found it quite hard to take the play forward, spending most of the time clearing the puck. Even the six minor penalties that came their way did not help the Capitals.

The Momentum Swings

A visibly upset coach Adam Oates summed up the entire proceedings when he said: “We’re spending too much time in our end, even though we got the lead, may be that’s where the penalties come from. We wear our guys out, wear out defense out and that turns into momentum swings and zone time for them.”

The Canucks shot into the lead when Kassian scored the opener, and for record Capitals were conceding the first goal for the seventh time during the season. Capitals could have done better to seize the initiative, but Ovechkin did not succeed in converting a penalty shot, only 79 seconds into the game. But then, Chimera helped to restore parity at 14:36, with the goal turning out to be Chimera’s fourth for the season.

Although the game provided some anxious moments for both the sides in turns, there’s little doubt that Vancouver held their nerves to emerge victorious. On the other hand, Washington have only themselves to blame for failing to put up a concerted effort, and more importantly, continuing to commit the same kind of mistakes that enabled their opponents to get past them in the deciding moments.