In Washington, DC, Braden Holtby made 32 saves as the Capitals dispatched the Anaheim Ducks, 5-2, on Monday night.
Richard Panik, Alex Ovechkin, Chandler Stephenson, and Jakub Vrana broke the Caps out to a 4-0 lead in the game before the Ducks had any response.
Richard Panik opened the scoring for the Caps with less than a minute gone on the clock – file photo by Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com
“We controlled the puck, we controlled the game, and you can see the result,” Ovechkin said. “Obviously, we tried to stick together. It’s a very good sign and big points.”
Panik opened the scoring with just 50 seconds gone n the game.
“He’s been around it the last couple of days, the last few games,” Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said. “Getting some good chances. Felt like his game was really coming. That’s great for him to get that first one and build from there.”
The Ducks closed the gap to 4-2 on goals from Sam Steel and Nicolas Deslauriers.
“I think at the end of the day, we’ve just got to tighten up our game,” the Ducks’ Erik Gudbranson said. “We weren’t as sharp as we have been in the past. This is one of the better teams in the National Hockey League. You better bring your ‘A’ game to come into this building and take a win.”
Tom Wilson added an empty net goal to close out the scoring.
“We knew forechecking was going to be a big part of our game,” Reirden said. “We were able right away to start off with some offensive zone time and converting. Obviously, some things in the third got a little loose. But I liked for the most part a lot of the stuff that we did in the first two periods.”
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Capitals highlights]
John Gibson made 26 saves in the loss.
“We need him (Gibson),” Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said. “We’re a team in transition. We’re trying to do a number of things on the fly, and between [Gibson] and [Ryan Miller], we need them both every night.”
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