The Washington Capitals entered their dressing room for what served as the primary intermission of Saturday evening\u2019s sport towards the Tampa Bay Lightning rattled and needing to refocus.
Defenseman Nick Jensen had just been taken off the ice on a stretcher<\/a> after a success from Tampa Bay\u2019s Michael Eyssimont despatched him awkwardly into the boards, main officers to ship each groups to the dressing room with 1:31 left within the interval. After the sport, Coach Spencer Carbery mentioned Jensen was \u201cdoing higher\u201d and had walked out of Capital One Area together with his household, however within the fast aftermath of the damage, all of the Capitals knew was their teammate had been damage in an unsettling method.
Instantly with out considered one of their most regular defensemen in a sport essential to their playoff hopes, the Capitals determined they have been going to \u201cplay like Jensen\u201d down the stretch, goaltender Charlie Lindgren mentioned. It labored.
An influence-play purpose by defenseman John Carlson with 11:31 left broke a tie, and an insurance coverage tally by middle Nic Dowd \u2014 a detailed pal and faculty teammate of Jensen\u2019s \u2014 late within the interval sealed a 4-2 victory and saved Washington\u2019s flickering playoff hopes alive.
\u201cAfter seeing what occurred with Jensen there \u2014 very, very tough to see,\u201d Lindgren mentioned. \u201cEveryone knows how laborious he works, and so I feel when that occurred, we went to the room and type of regathered ourselves just a little bit. On the finish of the day, we simply needed to play like Jensen \u2014 and that\u2019s laborious, and it\u2019s the precise method. I believed we did that.\u201d
Washington (38-31-11, 87 factors) jumped again into the second and final wild-card spot<\/a> within the Japanese Convention \u2014 and remained there after Pittsburgh (86 factors) misplaced to Boston later Saturday \u2014 with two video games left, beginning with a go to from the Bruins on Monday. Detroit and Philadelphia even have 87 factors; the Capitals maintain the tiebreaker (regulation wins) on the Crimson Wings, whose last two video games are towards also-ran Montreal, and the Flyers have only one sport left \u2014 towards the visiting Capitals on Tuesday.
Lindgren stopped 32 of 34 pictures Saturday; Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for Tampa Bay (44-28-8).
Earlier than Jensen\u2019s damage, the primary interval went forwards and backwards, with two leads for Washington and two tying targets for Tampa Bay. Sonny Milano put the Capitals forward at 9:56. After Max Pacioretty\u2019s shot was blocked by Taylor Raddysh, the Tampa Bay winger inadvertently directed the puck on to Milano, who had a half-open web for a backhand end.
A deflection off Anthony Duclair\u2019s skate in entrance of Lindgren tied the rating at 13:06, however Milano was prepared to reply. One other misplay by the Lightning \u2014 this time, Vasilevskiy tried to comb the puck away from his crease however put it proper on Milano\u2019s stick \u2014 led to a different one-touch end by Milano, who despatched the puck by means of Vasilevskiy to present Washington its lead again solely 54 seconds after Duclair scored.
Brandon Hagel scored one other tying purpose for Tampa Bay with 3:36 left, discovering house as he labored round Jensen to get off a backhander that Lindgren couldn\u2019t cease.
After the groups returned from the early intermission to finish the primary interval and play the second, Washington rapidly drew a penalty when Steven Stamkos crosschecked winger T.J. Oshie in entrance of the online. Regardless of firing 5 pictures at Vasilevskiy throughout the man benefit, the Capitals couldn\u2019t break by means of.
Halfway by means of the interval, Dowd fired up the gang \u2014 and his teammates \u2014 by dropping the gloves with Eyssimont in response to the hit on Jensen. Eyssimont was booed each time he touched the puck for the ultimate two intervals, and a success laid on him by winger Tom Wilson late within the third produced one of many loudest cheers of the evening.
Dowd had simply two fights in his nine-season NHL profession earlier than Saturday, however it was evident he needed to ship a message.
\u201cI feel any of our teammates would\u2019ve stepped up and accomplished that. I simply noticed a chance,\u201d Dowd mentioned. \u201cI feel there\u2019s clearly a little bit of a code, and we have been capable of deal with it and transfer on.\u201d
Carbery singled out Dowd\u2019s play, within the battle and in the remainder of the sport, as a vital a part of Washington\u2019s capacity to regroup.
\u201cNic Dowd steps up,\u201d Carbery mentioned. \u201cNot the battle. The battle is \u2014 he\u2019s sending a message with that, however simply the best way he performed after that and the entire group. It\u2019s simply laborious. Whenever you see one thing like that and also you\u2019re enjoying in a sport, you then begin operating by means of not solely your concern for him however simply enjoying the sport of hockey and getting damage like that, it\u2019s laborious to reset and go, \u2018Okay, now I\u2019ve bought to be in proper positions, and now I\u2019ve bought to do X, Y, Z to win a hockey sport.\u2019 That\u2019s a tough factor.
\u201cHowever what our group did, as soon as once more exhibiting the character of the group, was they [decided], \u2018Okay, as laborious as that is, we\u2019ve bought to \u2014 as a result of if we throw our season away, Jens would in all probability be saying: \u201cYou idiots! Don\u2019t try this! Go on the market and win a sport for me, and I\u2019ll get higher.\u201d \u2019 That\u2019s what they did.\u201d
The refocused Capitals couldn\u2019t convert on a five-on-three energy play, however a mere 5 seconds after it grew to become a one-man benefit, Carlson discovered the online off a go from Dylan Strome. The purpose, the a hundred and fiftieth of Carlson\u2019s profession, made him Washington\u2019s franchise chief amongst defensemen, passing Kevin Hatcher.
And it was Dowd, within the waning moments, who scored the ultimate purpose to present the Capitals some much-needed respiratory room. After Washington embraced enjoying for Jensen and dealing to win the best way he performs \u2014 hard-nosed and devoted on each shift \u2014 it was becoming Dowd scored to lock within the win.
\u201cHe\u2019s a heart-and-soul man,\u201d Dowd mentioned. \u201cHe\u2019s a pacesetter. It\u2019s powerful to say you wish to go on the market and win the sport for Jens. \u2026 However I feel we simply needed to perceive the gravity of the scenario and never let that play into how we have to end the sport. I feel Jens could be proud of the end result, figuring out that we stepped up for him and we bought the job accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n