*Photo from the Ottumwa Courier*
This may have been the only game on the ledger for Sunday, but it was still a good one to watch, for fans of the Vancouver Canucks at least. Elias Pettersson scored two goals, Bo Horvat had a goal and an assist, and the Canucks defeated the Washington Capitals 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
After winning their first 7 games under Bruce Boudreau, the Canucks had lost 4 out of their last 5 games, so to get the win here was an important one for Vancouver. Pettersson's two goals and the two point night from Horvat led the way in the statsheet for the Canucks, with JT Miller also having a goal and an assist.
Boudreau said of the overall game that "I thought we played a 60-minute game. We backed up a little bit a little bit in the third period, but we did one of those bend and not break type situations. But everybody did their job, and when they did their job and the power play is working, you're going to have some success."
Alex Ovechkin got the scoring started in the first period with his 26th goal of the season to put the Capitals ahead 1-0. Pettersson tied it when he scored just 33 seconds into the second period, his 7th goal of the season. He added his 8th of the year to make it 2-1 Canucks, followed by a Horvat goal to make it a 3-1 game after two periods.
Tom Wilson tried to get the Capitals back in it in the 3rd period, scoring his 11th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 3-2, a power play goal 6:22 into the period. It was Miller who put the game away in the 3rd period, making it 4-2 Canucks with an empty net goal with 58 seconds left, assisted by Tanner Pearson and Brock Boeser.
Pettersson said of the recent skid that "I think we deserved better in some of the games. It was like we just have to stay the course. We've been playing good hockey. I think we just came into this game with the right mindset: keep on working, keep playing the game."
Getting the start and putting together a great outing in goal was Thatcher Demko. In the win for the Canucks, Demko turned aside 31 of the 33 shots on goal he faced from the Capitals, posting a very strong .939 save percentage with the win. Demko's record bumps up to a 16-14-1 mark in 31 starts this season.
The opposing goalie on the other side of the ice for the Capitals was Ilya Samsonov, who got tagged with the loss despite also having a good game between the pipes. Samsonov saved 28 of the 31 shots the Canucks sent his way, good for a .903 save percentage. With the loss, Samsonov's record drops to 13-4-3 in 19 starts.
Ovechkin said of the game that "I think in the first half of the game we didn't go to the front of the net, especially when we moved the puck to our blue line, we just stayed on the perimeter and every shot, he sees it. In this League, it is hard to score from the blue line if there's no traffic in front. We are going to watch the video, make some adjustments and move on."
Up next, the Capitals get back in action with a Tuesday night home matchup against the Winnipeg Jets, with Samsonov likely to start again. The Canucks hit the road for a contest with the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, with Demko as the probable starting goalie.
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