Chimera Gives Thanks To OT Winner

Capitals 4, Jets 3 OT
Game Summary

AP

Ondrej Pavelec has been nothing short of a brick wall against the Capitals of late. But the Caps finally solve the pesky goaltender and put forth an inspired effort to earn a 4-3 overtime win against divisional foe the Winnipeg Jets.

Jason Chimera had himself a game scoring a pair of goals (his seventh and eighth of the season) including the game winner 1:52 into the overtime period. He could have easily scored a pair more but some outstanding goaltending by Pavelec kept Chimera from scoring a few more. Alex Semin scored his fifth of the year after getting a beautiful feed from a hustling Alex Ovechkin. Birthday boy Nick Backtrom also added a tally to round out the scoring for the Capitals.

Unlike games before, the Caps seemed to put forth a better effort this game. They were moving their feet, beating Jets to loose pucks and making the defensive effort to block shots. Rookie Dmitry Orlov might have had the hit of the game in the second period when he laid a spectacular hip check on the speedy Blake Wheeler. That set off a flurry of hits and physical play from both teams that added to the intrigue of the game. The Capitals would outhit the Jets 35 to 27.

The Caps power play only had three chances to work. It did lead to a slew of chances, but the Caps could not convert on the man advantage. While the power play stumbled, the penalty kill was fantastic killing off two minor penalties including a 1:20 five on three with Brooks Laich sans stick for a majority of it.

Tomas Vokoun was at times spectacular, while at other times looked a bit slow to react to the play. While two of the goals came off of some lucky bounces for the Jets, the tying goal was savable. Wheeler's pass to Bryan Little seemed to freeze Vokoun up and he was late to get over to cover the shot by Little. The goal by the Jets was preceded by a waived goal by the Caps just moments before.

After sitting a game, Semin roared back into the lineup. Not only did he start the scoring with a pretty slapper off of a great feed from Ovechkin, but he did not get called for stick infraction. In part it was due to Semin moving his feet and trying not to do too much with his stick (other than shooting pucks on net and curl and drags).

Caps Notes:

• Caps win their second straight after struggling to win games losing 6 of the previous 7. Both games ended with the scores 4-3.
• Cody Eakin had a scare as the hitting escalated in the second period. He took a high hit to the head from Ron Hainsey that looked very close to a targeted hit to the head. While the Caps held the lead, Eakin's ice time diminished.
• Eric Fehr returned to Washington to face his former team as a Jet. He was a -1 with one shot on net and one blocked shot.
• Backstrom scored on his birthday. He is 24.
• Rookie defenseman Orlov nearly had a second hip check that would have sent another Jet flying, but this time it only jettisoned Kane's stick into the crowd. A fan caught the stick, but was forced to give the stick back in return for a game puck as seen here.  Lame.