Washington beat Seattle last night
New York. It’s starting to look normal again in the US capital.
The Washington Capitals hit their third straight last night — beating mighty Seattle.
– Yes, it’s very nice that we finally have a few victories in a row together. It gives confidence and hopefully we can build on this,” top scorer Markus Johansson tells Sportbledet after the 4-1 win.
For most of the fall, the Caps perched in the middle of the pack down the line, without making much of an impression—not least because of the team’s heavy injuries.
But as I said:
It seems that the sun is shining on the capital again. After beating Edmonton and Philadelphia, they tied the Seattle Kraken – the best team in the West – 4-1 at home at Capital One Arena last night.
– There were a lot of ups and downs during the fall and of course, there are real key players that we have and they are still on the injury list, but that’s no excuse. The team on the ice is good enough to assert ourselves when we got to it after beating Team Kraken, Marcus Johansson says.
continued:
– Now I think it looks better. When we played Seattle away last week, we took a 2-1 lead in third but were beaten anyway, because we went too far from home. Now we have continued to play our game and it has paid off. It’s so good that we finally get some straight wins together. It gives confidence and we hope we can build on that.
Mojo himself contributed a slightly strange goal in the second half. He made his way cleanly into the penalty area, received a fine pass from Sonny Milano and slotted the ball in – after it hung in the air for a moment.
– I think he touched Philip Grubauer’s glove picking him up, but I always had a feeling he was going to get in, he says.
– It was really cool, the disc didn’t want to end up in the box for a while.
The 32-year-old Scanian – who returned to Washington last year after five years moving around other clubs – is generally satisfied with his special season.
– Yes, I am healthy and well, so it’s fun to play hockey again, and my family and I feel at home again. He says we are having a great time.
Incidentally, tonight’s game ended with Alex Ovechkin scoring 4-1 into an empty net. That puts him four goals short of the 800 mark – a figure only Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky have reached before.
Adam Larson scored the Kraken goal.
Ricard Raquel responded with a stellar performance as Pittsburgh won a playoff-style battle against Buffalo in Western New York. First, he set up a 2-2 tie himself early in the third period—and then played, on a power play in overtime, until Jeff Carter’s decisive 4-3 play.
– It was a great pass from Ricky, says the hero of the match.
One of the home team’s goals was scored by Viktor Olofsson.
Competition in the hockey market in the New York area is fierce.
That was evident again when the series-leading New Jersey Devils took on the New York Islanders at The Rock last night, playing great at times – and still being beaten 6-4.
– We have to give them credit, they really came out and fought tonight, says Devils captain Niko Hischier.
Jesper Bratt has been noted for two new assists.
A third team from the same region, the New York Rangers, has had problems at home in the park, but away from home they are among the most effective teams in the league.
Earlier in the week they beat Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena and last night they followed up with an unexpected shootout win (2-1) over Colorado in Denver.
Mika Zibanejad scored one of the decisive penalty kicks.
Columbus quickly got revenge by turning a big flop against Buffalo that day. Last night they made sure to beat Calgary 3-1 at home at the Nationwide Arena.
Johnny Goudreau, who left Calgary after nine seasons for Columbus this summer, didn’t score any points but remained happy.
– It was grueling above all to see how the whole team bounced back after the last game, he says.
Mikael Backlund helped achieve the consolation goal for the visitors.
Arizona was responsible for the roar of the night, which already beat Boston, 4-3, at home at Auditorium in Tempe.
The great champion was Lawson Krause, who, with only fourteen seconds left in regular time, was able to score the decisive goal over Jeremy Swaiman.
Hambus Lindholm got an assist.
Philadelphia fought somewhat in the tough away game against Vegas and dominated a lot in overtime – until Jonathan Marchesault lost in a free position and managed to score a decisive 2-1 goal for the home team.
Joel Erickson scored his tenth goal of the season during Minnesota’s visit to Edmonton, but to no avail. The Oilers won 5-2.