Miracle on F Street

In order to have a successful season, an NHL team needs to be able to do two things, beat the teams you are suppose to beat and occasionally win the games you are suppose to lose. The Capitals managed to do both last night in the five most thrilling minutes of the seasons. When Matt Moulson scored for the Islanders 2 minutes into the final frame, all the air and excitement exited Verizon Center and every living tuned into Comcast Sportsnet. There was no way the 2011-2012 Washington Capitals without Nick Backstrom were going to win that game. And of course, as soon as it looked like they were going to break through, Matt Hendricks takes an offensive zone penalty and before we know it, only 5 minutes remain in regulation. Queue the Miracle on F Street.

The best players in the game last night were the grinders: Chimera, Brouwer, and Beagle. So, it came to no surprise that the improbable comeback started with two of them. With about three minutes to play, Chimera won a puck battle in the corner, allowing Matheiu Perreault to make a desperation centering pass that found Troy Brouwer on the far post and swing the momentum to DC. Two minutes later they pulled Neuvirth, and for 30 seconds of 6 on 5, the puck was almost exclusively in the neutral zone as a tired Capitals squad tried desperately to get the puck in the offensive zone. Luckily though, the Islanders cleared the puck into their own bench, allowing the Capitals to call a timeout before an offensive zone draw. The decision of the night was then made by Assistant Coach Jim Johnson, who drew up the tying tip in goal and chose to put Jeff Halpern on ice for the draw, sending the Verizon faithful into the biggest frenzie ever for an overtime forcing goal when Brouwer deflected a Laich shot pass Nabokov. Less than 5 minutes later, the much maligned captain netted the overtime game winning goal in vintage fashion to complete the comeback.

Now, it is important to keep things in perspective. This was one game and a game at home, which has not been the concern this year. It was also against one of the few teams in the East that are outside of the playoff race. It is a game that Capitals were suppose to win, yet barely did. They looked sloppy and frustrated for most of the night. Passes were routinely off the mark or intercepted, cycles often did not lead to chances, and the power play was nothing short of miserable. Despite the rally at the end, many of the key players looked bad, mainly Ovechkin and MoJo. And they are still clinging to 8th place in the conference.

But, it is also equally important not to undervalue the win. It was a very important 2 points in the standings that they stole late. Despite the sloppy and disorganized at times play, they did manage to be in control most of the time. That sounds odd, but I do believe the Capitals were the better team last night and frustration started to take over. They also outshot the Islanders by a recent margin and Michal Neuvirth was nothing short of spectacular at times. Troy Brouwer getting on the scoresheet again is also huge as he is part of the secondary scoring that has been missing lately.

The biggest positive of last night? At the risk of sounding cliche, it was the fact that the Capitals found some heart. Over the weekend leading into the trade deadline, Barry Melrose said the Caps were the most disappointing team in the league and that no trade would solve their lack of heart. It's hard to argue against that statement given the collapses and laughers the Caps how had this year. Last night was a different story. The Capitals 100% lose that game a month ago. But last night they found an extra gear late and gutted out a win. Brooks Laich said after the game that last nights comeback win over the lowly Islanders might sway the season. He very well could be right, but only if they follow it up this weekend with performances against the Devils (who are 5 points ahead of the Caps) and Flyers that are as inspired as the last 5 minutes of last night's win.