Capitals 2, Canucks 1: The difference was the superstar

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Give an inch, they’ll take a mile.

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If there’s a lesson in losing to a team that came into the night with a -31 goal differential it’s that hockey at the NHL level is one of fine margins.

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The Vancouver Canucks were good early on and scored first, but that was undone by terrible defensive play in the second period.

And that was that.

Superstars, man

They find a way. They just do.

Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal but was otherwise invisible.

But that didn’t matter. He was excellent when opportunity called.

Worst second period of the season

The Canucks started the game well, scoring in the first minute, but they slowly lost their way over the first period.

And then the second happened.

The Canucks looked stuck in mud almost from the start and had no defensive structure on either of Washington’s goals: first an awful breakdown leading to Tom Wilson’s goal, then another on Ovechkin’s go-ahead goal.

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They just looked lost all period and were outshot 14-5 over the 20 minutes.

Brutal stuff.

NEXT GAME

Tuesday

Buffalo Sabres vs. Vancouver Canucks

7 p.m., Rogers Arena, TV: SN Pacific, Radio: Sportsnet 650

Here’s the tip

Brock Boeser’s goal was his eighth goal on a tip this season, tied for second-best in the NHL.

Tipping pucks is one of the hardest things to do in hockey but it’s been a point of focus for a number of Canucks forwards in recent seasons.

First it was Bo Horvat. Then it was Andrei Kuzmenko.

This season it’s Boeser and Nils Höglander.

Höglander has seven tipped goals.

What are you doing?

The Canucks needed to defend better on Tom Wilson’s tying goal, but the icing call before that was terrible.

Phil Di Giuseppe was clearly going to be first to the puck, but linesman Ryan Gibbons made the call anyway.

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Di Giuseppe was unimpressed but didn’t say anything as he skated back to the Canucks zone.

Gibbons, for whatever reason, pursued the Canuck forward down the ice and talked his ear off, presumably explaining the call.

Why NHL officials have a need to explain away their decisions boggles the mind.

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