WASHINGTON – Nobody is slowing down the Washington Capitals. The Ducks tried their best but added themselves to their list of victims.
A three-goal blitz in an overwhelming first period seemed to have the Capitals on their way to a rout but the Ducks stormed back to tie the game, only to fall 6-4 as the NHL’s top team survived to get its 12th straight triumph at Verizon Center.
Zach Sanford scored his first NHL goal with a screened shot that bounced in off John Gibson’s shoulder with 2:39 left as Gibson looked up in anguish after making a number of big saves to allow his teammates to mount a comeback. Marcus Johansson added an empty-net goal.
The Ducks (29-18-10) weren’t able to build off their win Thursday at Buffalo but this was going to be toughest of chores to handle no matter what frame of mind they were in. Washington has the league’s best record at 39-11-6 and, naturally, most points with 84.
But the Ducks showed they weren’t going to just crawl away. Jakob Silfverberg and Hampus Lindholm scored in the second period and Ryan Kesler gave the Ducks a good look at the game in the third with his 20th goal.
And after swimming upstream the entire game, Ryan Getzlaf got loose on a breakaway and beat the Capitals’ Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Braden Holtby for a 4-4 tie with 8:16 left. It didn’t seem like that was possible after the Capitals imposed their will in the opening 20 minutes.
The shot clock had Washington with a 16-5 advantage and the scoreboard read 3-0. T.J. Oshie scored on the power play while Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson tallied at even strength as the rout seemed to be on, which the Capitals have done often at home.
During their home streak, the Capitals have scored at least five goals in 11 straight contests. They had been averaging 4.52 goals per game during a 21-game run that had them walking out of arenas victorious on 18 occasions.
Lindholm helped keep the Ducks from run out of the arena. With his team needing any kind of offense, the defenseman jumped up in the play to get Getzlaf’s pass and put in his own rebound after Holtby made an initial save.
And it got to be further interesting when Kesler got Cam Fowler’s pass in the slot and snapped the puck by Holtby with 10:22 left in the third. Fowler intercepted Dmitry Orlov’s turnover and Kesler ended an 11-game goal drought.
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