The Washington Post - 21.10.2019

D6 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019

Oshie was on the wrong end of

Chicago’s first equalizer, when he

fell entering the offensive zone

and fourth-liner Drake Caggiula

scored off the turnover. Both

teams’ depth forwards contribut-

ed, with Dowd’s shorthanded

goal providing a quick answer.

The Capitals had another re-

sponse in them after Chicago tied

it again in the third period, and

they will take a three-game win-

ning streak with them to Calgary.

“I think it’s always nice when

you can win the first one on a long

road trip,” Wilson said. “Definite-

ly makes this four-hour plane ride

a little bit more fun, and it sets us

off on the right foot, so that’s all

you can ask coming into a tough

building.”

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aged only one shot on goal during

their extended advantage.

Dowd and Hagelin were one of

the team’s shorthanded forward

pairs Sunday, and Wilson and

Eller formed the other. Reirden

said he talked with assistant

coach Scott Arniel before the

game to make the switch to those

two particular combinations —

and if the results Sunday were

any indication, they worked.

Dowd had been in and out of

the Capitals’ lineup to start the

season, trading places as the

fourth-line center with Stephen-

son, until an injury to Richard

Panik forced the team to place

Panik on injured reserve before

Friday’s game against the New

York Rangers. Dowd has now

scored twice in as many games.

“Yeah, it was a good turning

point there,” Dowd said. “Obvi-

ously unlucky at the four minutes,

but you try to take momentum

away whenever you can. Whether

it’s the power play got us going

early with the momentum, but

special teams was a big factor for

us tonight.”

Oshie’s power-play goal in the

first period — his team-leading

seventh goal of the season, this

one on a feed from Evgeny Kuz-

netsov after a puck battle — was

his third in his past two games.

The Capitals’ power play is now 7

for 15 on the road. What earlier

this season was a concerning area

for Washington is suddenly re-

sembling the prolific unit of the

past few years.

ately boosting a unit that has

continued to excel this season.

Washington was tied for eighth in

the NHL in penalty-kill percent-

age even before its impressive

showing Sunday.

“Special teams, I talk about it

all the time, and it is something

that wasn’t where we wanted it to

be, and it has been solid for us

these last couple games,” Capitals

Coach Todd Reirden said.

Hagelin made his presence felt

on the penalty kill again Sunday

after he put his head down and

sped up ice after a turnover by

Kane midway through the second

period. Hagelin made a clean pass

to Dowd to break the tie.

Chicago had scored its first

goal just 1:28 earlier, and Chan-

dler Stephenson’s double minor

for high-sticking came at a dan-

gerous time. Instead, the Capitals

took the lead with the shorthand-

ed goal, and the Blackhawks man-

added an extra attacker. Holtby

has made 67 saves on 72 shots in

his past two games after getting

pulled Oct. 14 for allowing three

goals on three shots against Colo-

rado.

“He’s definitely got his calm

demeanor back,” Wilson said of

Holtby. “He’s one of those guys

where if there are pucks flying

everywhere, he just seems to

swallow them up, and he’s our

rock. He’s an extremely good lead-

er on the ice, off the ice. I’m happy

for him. He played great tonight.”

Wilson scored the go-ahead

goal, and Holtby preserved the

late lead, but it was the Capitals’

special-teams units that ultimate-

ly made the difference. Forward

T.J. Oshie scored a power-play

goal 9:25 into the first period,

converting the Capitals’ only ex-

tra-man opportunity of the game.

The penalty kill went 5 for 5, and

Nic Dowd scored a shorthanded

goal 9:53 into the second period

to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead.

Capitals General Manager Bri-

an MacLellan entered last year’s

trade deadline knowing his team

needed to get better on the penal-

ty kill. It was an area in which the

team had struggled all season,

unable to find the right personnel

or the right balance of when to

apply pressure in a system de-

signed to be aggressive.

The team acquired winger Carl

Hagelin and defenseman Nick

Jensen at the deadline, immedi-

CAPITALS FROM D1

BY DAVE SKRETTA

kansas city, kan. — Denny

Hamlin was surrounded by Joe

Gibbs Racing teammates at the

front on the final restart, and that

put Chase Elliott in the most diffi-

cult and precarious of situations.

Somehow, he figured, he need-

ed to find a way to beat them all to

advance in the NASCAR Cup Se-

ries playoff.

It turned out second place was

good enough.

Hamlin roared away with a

push from behind from teammate

Kyle Busch on the second shot at a

green-white-checkered finish,

and Elliott was unable to chase

him down. But deep in the field,

Brad Keselowski was going back-

ward, and the spots he lost in the

elimination race at Kansas Speed-

way were enough to send Elliott

through in the final cutoff spot to

the round of eight.

Hamlin won the race. Elliott

felt almost as if he did.

“You have to stay fighting in

these things, especially with the

late-race restarts,” Elliott said.

“Just excited we get to fight an-

other race. Back up against the

wall, to come out here and battle

for the win, that’s what you have to

do when you’re in the position we

were in.”

In a bit of irony, it was Kesel-

owski who helped bring out the

caution in the first overtime when

he got into Daniel Suarez and

triggered a wreck that collected

teammate Joey Logano. The field

was nearing the start-finish line,

but the caution light came on

before the leader took the white

flag.

If Hamlin had crossed a split-

second quicker, the race would

have been over and Keselowski

safe.

“I pushed as hard as I knew how

and didn’t quite do good enough

on the last restart, and that was it,”

Keselowski said.

Kyle Busch ultimately finished

third, followed by Kurt Busch and

William Byron. But the key was

Keselowski, who dropped from

13th to 19th on the final restart

and out of the next round of the

playoff. He ended up three points

— equal to three positions on the

track — below the cutoff line.

Byron was the next driver elimi-

nated despite a strong run at Kan-

sas, where he would have needed a

win to advance. Alex Bowman and

Clint Bowyer also were ousted.

The frenzied push to the finish

began when Ryan Blaney scraped

the wall with 14 to go, causing his

tire to go down and a caution flag

to fly. Elliott was three points be-

hind Keselowski at that point, but

the savior of Hendrick Motor-

sports’ playoff hopes made a big

move on the restart to climb to

fourth place, and that put the

pressure right back on Keselowski

to make up ground.

Elliott was still in good shape

until another caution flew, jum-

bling the front of the pack and

giving Keselowski a chance. He

made a quick stop and picked up

three spots on pit road, putting

Elliott back in a situation in which

it appeared he would need a victo-

ry to advance.

Then Keselowski ran out of

room deep in the pack and nudged

Suarez, sending him into the wall.

— Associated Press

NASCAR

Elliott in, Keselowski out

ASSOCIATED PRESS after a chaotic cutoff race

Justin Thomas won his
11th PGA Tour title and his second
in South Korea in three years with
a final-round 5-under-par 67 and
a two-stroke victory over South
Korean-born New Zealander
Danny Lee on Jeju Island.
Thomas and Lee made it most-
ly a two-man show Sunday at the
CJ Cup at Nine Bridges. They
entered the final round tied and
stayed that way through the front
nine.
Thomas birdied the 14th to
take one-stroke lead, then went
up by two when Lee bogeyed the
15th after missing a 10-foot par
putt and Thomas made a two-
footer for par. After going from
greenside bunker to bunker on
the 16th, Lee bogeyed again and
fell three behind. But Thomas
bogeyed the 17th after his 12-foot-
er for par lipped out, reducing the
deficit to two strokes.
On Saturday, Thomas had a
three-stroke lead heading into
the 18th ahead but fell victim to a
three-shot swing when Thomas
bogeyed and Lee made a long
eagle putt. On Sunday, there were
no such late miracles for Lee:
Thomas and Lee both birdied the
18th, with Lee lipping out on his
eagle putt to finish with a 69.
“It was a very, very tough day,”
Thomas said. “Danny made it
extremely difficult. He really
made a lot of putts, a lot of
unbelievable up and downs to
kind of keep me from getting all
the momentum.”
Thomas finished with a 72-hole
total of 20-under 268.
“Just a couple holes that were
letting me down with the driver
on the back nine,” Lee said. “A
couple tee shots that you cannot

hit it in that bunkers on the left,

and I did, so struggling to make

par from there when Justin had a

couple birdie looks.”

On the eagle putt on 18, Lee

said: “Pretty close. I wasn’t going

to leave that short. It looked so

good for so long. Had a little too

much speed to go in, but I gave it a

really good run.”

Hideki Matsuyama (65), Gary

Woodland (66) and Cameron

Smith (69) finished tied for third,

five behind Thomas.


LPGA TOUR: Danielle Kang

shot a bogey-free 2-under 70 to

win the LPGA Shanghai for the

second consecutive year with a

tournament-record 16-under 272.

The 27-year-old American be-

gan the day one stroke behind

compatriot Jessica Korda, who

shot a final-round 72 to finish

second at 15 under.

“It was a really stressful day. I

definitely played well out there. It

was really tough because you’re

definitely watching what Jessica

is shooting and scoring and al-

ways just try to keep in my own

game,” Kang said.

Kang birdied the 15th to pull

two strokes ahead, but Korda

responded with a birdie of her

own on 17. Kang then holed a

three-foot par putt on the 18th to

win her third career title.

“I’ve never been more nervous

than the last putt for some rea-

son, but I made it,” Kang said.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS:

Heavy rain forced the postpone-

ment of the third round of the

Dominion Energy Charity Classic

in Richmond.

The first of three tournaments

in the Charles Schwab Cup play-

offs will resume at Country Club

of Virginia’s James River Course

at 8 a.m. Monday.

Tommy Tolles and Scott Parel

are tied for the lead, one shot

ahead of Colin Montgomerie.


EUROPEAN TOUR: Nicolas

Colsaerts ended more than seven

years without a victory when he

closed with a 1-over 72 and sur-

vived a wild back nine at Le Golf

National to win the French Open

in Guyancourt.

GOLF ROUNDUP

Thomas holds off Lee for second South Korea win

JEON HEON-KYUN/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

“It was a very, very tough day,” said Justin Thomas, who birdied No. 18 to edge Danny Lee by two strokes.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vancouver captain Bo Horvat
wanted to set the tone early after
a tough loss the previous day. He
got the Canucks started with a
needed power-play goal, and they
bounced back with a big road
win.
Brock Boeser and Jay Beagle
scored late in Vancouver’s three-
goal first period, and the Canucks
held on to beat the New York
Rangers, 3-2, on Sunday.
Elias Pettersson added two as-
sists for Vancouver (5-3-0), which
bounced back from a 1-0 loss at
New Jersey on Saturday to win
for the fifth time in six games.
“I took that onus on myself to
be the guy to get the boys going,”
Horvat said. “I was really upset
about the last game. We should
have scored more power-play
goals, and we should have at least
gotten a point out of that....
When we do lose games, we’re not
ones to want to lose three
straight, four straight and get on
these losing skids. We want to
bounce back and have a great
game and continue winning.”
Jacob Markstrom, playing for
the first time since Oct. 12,
stopped 38 shots to win his third
straight start after losing his first
two.
“A little bit of redemption, but
our team played amazing. We
really did,” Beagle said. “Marky
stood on his head. It was just a
good overall win.”
Jesper Fast had a goal and an
assist and Artemi Panarin also
scored for New York (2-4-0),
which has lost four straight —
including three in four days after
playing just three times in the
previous 14 days. Henrik Lund-
qvist finished with 40 saves.
“We should be so eager to get
out there,” Lundqvist said. “But
sometimes it’s hard to get going.
That desperation should always
be there. Especially losing three
in a row.”
Rangers Coach David Quinn
shook up his lineup during Fri-
day’s 5-2 loss at Washington,
moving Chris Kreider to the top
line with Panarin and Mika Zi-
banejad. Pavel Buchnevich was
dropped to the second line and
rookie Kaapo Kakko down to the
third. Buchnevich ended up on
the fourth line during the second
period but was back on the sec-
ond later in the game.
Down 3-1 after 40 minutes, the
Rangers came out aggressively in
the third and controlled much of
the play while outshooting the
Canucks 17-6 in the final period.
“We knew they like to play
wide-open,” Beagle said. “They
have a lot of guys that run and

gun. They love to go east-west

and hardly ever dump it.... We

got the job done.”


WILD 4, CANADIENS 3:

Zach Parise scored the go-ahead

goal midway through the third

period, and Minnesota won its

second game of the season, beat-

ing Montreal in St. Paul, Minn.

Jason Zucker, Marcus Foligno

and Brad Hunt also scored for

Minnesota, which matched its

highest goal total through eight

games this season. The Wild (2-

6-0) also scored four goals in a 7-4

home loss to Pittsburgh.

Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves

and earned his first win of the

season.

Phillip Danault scored twice

and Tomas Tatar added a goal for

the Canadiens (4-3-2). Keith

Kinkaid stopped 29 shots in his

second game of the season.

Parise took a perfect pass from

Zucker through traffic and sent a

shot that beat Kinkaid and gave

the Wild a 4-3 lead. The score

came just over four minutes after

Hunt tied the game on the power

play.

The teams squared off for the

second time in a four-day span.

The host Canadiens won the pre-

vious meeting, 4-0.



JETS 1, OILERS 0 (SO):

Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine

scored in the shootout, and Win-

nipeg (5-5-0) snapped a three-

game losing skid with a win at

home over Edmonton (7-1-1).

Connor Hellebuyck made

28 saves and recorded his first

shutout of the season.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and

Connor McDavid were stopped in

the shootout.

The overtime period was high-

lighted by tight goaltending.

Edmonton goalie Mike Smith

robbed Mark Scheifele in close,

and Hellebuyck followed that by

denying McDavid on a break-

away.

Smith made 23 saves for the

Oilers, who had their two-game

winning streak snapped.

The Jets are undefeated in

regulation in their past seven

games against the Oilers. Their

last loss was Dec. 1, 2016.


FLAMES 2, DUCKS 1: Mi-

kael Backlund scored with 11:03

left, Cam Talbot made 29 saves

and Calgary (5-4-1) rallied for a

road victory over Anaheim (6-

3-0).

Backlund got a pass from Mat-

thew Tkachuk on a two-on-one

rush after a neutral zone turnover

and beat goaltender John Gibson

with a snap shot from the right

faceoff circle. It was his second

goal in two games.

Talbot made his second start of

the season and got his first win as

he stopped a flurry of one-timers

in the third period. Michael Stone

also scored for the Flames, who

snapped a three-game road los-

ing streak.

Capitals open trip with win in Chicago

CAPITALS’ NEXT THREE

at Calgary Flames

Tomorrow 9 NBCSW

at Edmonton Oilers

Thursday 9 NBCSW

at Vancouver Canucks

Friday 10 NBCSW+

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM),

WFED (1500 AM)

NHL ROUNDUP

Vancouver bounces back

to beat reeling New York

CANUCKS 3,

RANGERS 2

PAUL BEATY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tom Wilson (43) scored the eventual game-winner after the Blackhawks tied Sunday’s game with a pair of goals in the third period.

Capitals 5, Blackhawks 3

WASHINGTON ......................... 1 1 3 — 5

CHICAGO .................................. 0 1 2 — 3

FIRST PERIOD

Scoring: 1, Washington, Oshie 7 (Kuznetsov), 9:25 (pp).

Penalties: Shaw, CHI, (holding), 9:17; Eller, WSH,

(tripping), 12:59; Gudas, WSH, served by Vrana, (rough-

ing), 20:00; Gudas, WSH, (cross checking), 20:00; Mur-

phy, CHI, (roughing), 20:00.

SECOND PERIOD

Scoring: 2, Chicago, Caggiula 2 (Carpenter, Nylander),

8:25. 3, Washington, Dowd 2 (Hagelin), 9:53 (sh).

Penalties: Stephenson, WSH, major (high sticking),

9:25.

THIRD PERIOD

Scoring: 4, Washington, Ovechkin 6 (Kempny, Carlson),

3:52. 5, Chicago, Kubalik 2 (Kampf, Saad), 6:05. 6,

Chicago, Kane 3 (Nylander), 9:58. 7, Washington, Wilson

3 (Hagelin, Eller), 11:47. 8, Washington, Eller 3 (Orlov),

19:10. Penalties: Kempny, WSH, (tripping), 0:33.

SHOTS ON GOAL

WASHINGTON ....................... 12 9 9 — 30

CHICAGO ................................ 14 15 15 — 44

Power-play opportunities: Washington 1 of 1; Chicago 0

of 5. Goalies: Washington, Holtby 3-1-2 (44 shots-41

saves). Chicago, Crawford 1-3-0 (29-25).