(Caps Outsider)
Anytime there is an injury, or a player is absent from the lineup, the Caps always have the “next man up” mentality. On Tuesday, Joe Snively was that next man and he made it count, despite the Capitals falling 3-2 to the Hurricanes.
Snively found out he was getting called up at 9:00 p.m. last night, but didn’t expect to play 22 hours later. This morning the Caps announced Alex Ovechkin was out for the foreseeable future with a family matter. With Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd injured, the team needed an extra forward. Then minutes before warmups he found out he was playing as the team announced that Aleksei Protas would miss the game for the birth of his first child.
Snively registered his second career multi-point game in his first NHL game since late October. Both of Snively’s points, a goal and a primary assist, came in key moments.
“It’s always nice to be able to contribute on the scoresheet,” Snively said. “It was nice to just get back to the NHL too.”
With the two points, Snively now has 10 career points and just the third Virginia-born player to reach that milestone. The Herndon native joined Eric Weinrich (Roanoke) and Scott Lachance (Charlottesville).
The first point helped tie the game, 1-1. in the last minute of the opening period.
Dmitry Orlov fired a puck up ice that found its way to Sinvely. He and T.J. Oshie entered the zone two-on-two. Oshie beat his defender to the far post, sliding to to put the puck past Hurricanes’ goalie Frederik Andersen.
“He was awesome. He was fantastic for us out there,” Oshie said of Snively. “He obviously hasn’t been part of the struggles we’ve had lately so it looks like he came in with a fresh young face and played great out there. He was fun to play with on my line.”
The assist marked Orlov’s 196th career helper, moving him past Sylvian Cote for eighth most assists by a defenseman in franchise history.
Carolina retook the lead early in the second period.
Moments after the officials missed a slashing call on the Hurricanes in Washington’s offensive zone, the Canes won a face-off battle in the Caps’ end and were able to deflect a shot pass Darcy Kuemper.
“They got a fortunate tip,” Trevor van Riemsdyk said. “… I thought we played well. I thought we had chances.”
Less than five minutes later, Snively once again helped the Caps equalize.
Snively found himself on a two-on-one with Dylan Strome after a stretch pass from van Riemsdyk and rather pass across the ice he rifled a shot pass Andersen to even the score at two, just over six minutes into the second period.
“A real good decision to shoot,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said. “There was nothing to pass to.”
The Hurricanes would then capitalize on a power-play opportunity five minutes later, on third deflection goal of the game. Despite a late period push from the Capitals, the visitors took a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.
Midway through the third period, it appeared that Snively would once again bail out the team.
Snively fired a shot from the slot off Andersen, but the bouncing puck was loose in the crease. Body after body flooded the crease before van Riemsdyk put the puck pass the mass of bodies and into the net. However, after given several opportunities to view the replay, Rod Brind’Amour initiated a coach’s challenge for goalie interference. Upon review, it was determined that Oshie interfered with Andersen and the goal came off the board.
“I just felt like he was already on his butt,” van Riemsdyk said. “He didn’t really know where the puck was, so I thought maybe that’d be a goal. Unfortunately my opinion doesn’t matter. The guys in stripes do. They got a tough job and it’s hard to tell.”
The Caps have several decisions to make as the team looks to get healthier, and with the trade deadline less than three weeks away. But one thing was made clear, Snively was given an opportunity tonight and he made the most of it.
“There was an opportunity for him tonight and he did a good job,” Laviolette said.
