Vancouver edged by Caps,. 2-1 Canucks take first regulation loss in six games

In Vancouver, the visiting Washington Capitals took a  2-1 road win on Saturday over the Canucks.

The win was enough to push the Caps to within three points of the Philadelphia Flyers for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division race, and are one point back of the Detroit Red WiNgs for the second wild card spot.

The Flyers lost to the Boston Bruins, 6-5, on Saturday, in regulation.

After falling behind, 1-0, in the opening stanza, the Caps hit for a pair of goals in just under two minutes,

Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin were the strikers.

Charlie Lindgren made 21 saves in the win.

The Capitals moved to 32-25-9.

“You look at these games, they’re meaningful hockey, playoff-type hockey for us,” Wilson said. “It’s great experience for everyone in the room. We’re rallying together, we’re playing well, we’re playing for each other and that’s what it’s all about this time of the year. If we keep playing like that, we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”

Brock Boeser was the lone striker for the Canucks, his first period goal gave them a 1-0 lead.

The Canucks dropped to 42-18-8.

“They’re fighting for their lives,” the Canucks’ Quinn Hughes said. “There’s a lot of desperation going around right now, and teams are desperate for points and desperate for wins and there’s a lot at stake. We have 14 games left, and I think we have that, too, but I think we have to up the ante on that even more.”

Wilson  scored at 6:01 of the middle frame for a 1-1 tie, and Ovechkin hit at 7:5.4

“We need to raise our standards, raise our level of execution, raise our level of tenacity and physicality,” Vancouver’s J.T. Miller said. “It just wasn’t good enough today. It wasn’t bad, I don’t think, but it’s not good enough, and every single team we’re going to play moving forward is playing for something. … There are no easy games, and we’ve got to find a way to rise to the occasion a little bit better than we did in a game like today.”

Casey DeSmith made 22 saves in the loss.