Game #58 Recap: Caps 7 Anaheim 6

The Caps broke out of the scoring doldrums with a 7 spot against the Ducks, however, the defense didn't keep to their usual ways giving up six to the opponents. The Caps broke their 3 game losing skid and picked up 2 points in the standings to put them back into 5th place in the Eastern Conference. In a run and gun game that saw 13 goals scored on a total of 52 shots the goalies did not feel to welcome as deflections, bounces, turnovers and misplays were plentiful all game long. The good news for the Capitals is that their strategy of going to the net finally started paying off as all but two of the goals could be considered crashing type goals. The top trio of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble combined for 5 points and Alexander Semin scored a hat trick to lead the Capitals in a see-saw game that featured the score tied on 5 different occasions. The game winning tally came from Semin who brought the puck out of the right wing corner and fit a backhand shot between the body and arm of the Anaheim goalie with less than two minutes remaining in the game. For the Caps it was a good effort on the offense and they will need it again tonight as the head to San Jose for a rematch with the Sharks who shutout the Caps in Washington last week.

Of Note:

• Semin's hat trick was his forth of the season and tied him for the NHL lead in that category.
• Alex Ovechkin, Mike Knuble, Brooks Laich, and David Steckel each had 1 goal in the game.
• Karl Alzner had 3 assists on the night. Backstrom and Matt Hendricks picked up 2 assists each and Ovechkin, Boyd Gordon, Laich, Scott Hannan, and Marcus Johansson had one apiece.
• The goalies did not fare too well as Semyon started and played the first period giving up 3 goals on 9 shots and was relieved by Michal Neuvirth who played the final two periods giving up 3 goals on 12 shots but he got the win and that's all that counts.
• The Caps got their face-off groove back winning 37 and losing 25.
• John Carlson played a good game on the back end with a +4 rating and 3 blocked shots.

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