Ryan Miller: Miller not good enough in 3-2 loss to Caps

Jay Beagle (1-1-2) and Alex Ovechkin (GWG) scored in the third period to rally the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks, their fourth consecutive victory and first regulation win in Vancouver since March 28, 1998 (1-7-1). It did have a nice sense of sass to it as it blasted through the Rogers Arena speakers.

Down 2-1 through 40 minutes, the Capitals tied it at 5:42 of the third after Vrbata gave the puck away behind his own net, with Beagle eventually tipping John Carlson’s point shot past Miller for his first of the season.

That’s how you execute the long breakout!

Anders Nilsson (1-1, .953 SV% / 1.98 GAA).will get the start for the Oilers, while Philip Grubauer (0-0, N/A) will get his first start of the season for the Capitals.

Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal (0-1-1) recorded his League-leading ninth assist of the season while playing in his 500th game. Webber has played in just one game so far this year. Vancouver’s homestand continues Saturday against Detroit…. “He whiffed. He swung fully on it. We know it’s Ovechkin; we’re going to shade (toward him)”. Vancouver lost its third straight to fall to 3-2-2. Yes, they’ve got Ovechkin, but when you’re getting point production from lines other than the ones with superstars, that’s a definite plus.

The Vancouver Canucks gave them plenty of help anyway. Cam Talbot has plenty of notes on the Caps from his days with the Rangers and I think that plays a factor here. Canuck defenceman Alex Edler was beaten by a deflected stretch pass on Alex Ovechkin’s winning goal – a partially whiffed shot on a 2-on-1 that arced over goalie Ryan Miller.

Milan Lucic scored the game-winning goal, his first goal with Los Angeles.

Niemi, who has 70 saves on 71 shots against the Penguins this season, improved to 6-1-1 in nine career games vs. PIT (2.06 goals-against average, .935 save percentage, one shutout). At NHL.com, Dan Rosen has paired Hutton with St. Louis’ hulking Colton Parayko on the first pairing of his all-rookie lineup, ahead of higher-profile players like Griffin Reinhart and Noah Hanifin.

Ovechkin, who has one goal in all five games in which he’s played, had the last of his three six-game goal streaks in 2008.

Dorsett’s 15:59 of ice time last night is the most he’s ever logged since joining the Canucks, so I’d guess that today is a maintenance day for him. Especially since there’s no one on the roster, outside of Michael Latta, who has been scratched in the last three games, that consistently fights. Even in the early going this season when the Oilers were losing hockey games they were very competitive and while they still have a few holes on the blue line this is the best bunch they have had since their playoff season in 2006 and it could very well be enough to get them back to the postseason since that run to the Cup finals.