The Caps are back on the ice tonight against Columbus…and it looks like they’ll have Tom Wilson, who took a friendly fire puck in the face, came back to score two goals in Saturday’s win, and appears to be a go for tonight.
“That was definitely a first. I think generally like when something like that happens, most of the time, guys don't return when you get a puck to the face like that,” Nic Dowd said in his weekly visit to the Junkies. “But for him to be able to return and continue to play was pretty crazy, and then the fact that he came back and had two goals…I had a weird feeling once he got hit and he came back that he was gonna score. It's just one of those things.”
There is no real protocol for concussions or anything other than the injury at hand in situations like that unless you show noticeable impairment, Dowd revealed, but that goes to anything that affects you above the neck.
“Willie didn't show any signs of that, right? Like he got right up, skated to the bench and then skated off, as opposed to like holding his head or like laying on the ice,” Dowd said. “Willie probably got lucky from the aspect of, like, Chicky took it from his off side almost; he had pressure so he had to get rid of it really quickly. He still has a missile, but we were joking on the bus that it could’ve been worse, he could have been loading it up! I think all in all, despite getting hit, which is really unlucky, I think it could have probably been much worse. I'm happy that he was able to come back and play and he didn't hit him in the teeth or anything.”
Chychrun’s shots, though, are part of a bigger thing that has the Caps rolling: the goalies are hot and the defensemen are scoring at a good clip, two things helping stem the tide without Alex Ovechkin.
“I was talking with Charlie Lingren last night at dinner, and said our back end and our goalies are probably one of the strengths of our group. We have some of the best eight defensemen in the NHL; I know six only play on any given night, but even when guys have been injured, we've had guys step in and play really well,” Dowd said. “Having scoring and run support from your back end is huge; it takes pressure off your power play and forwards, and you gotta score to win the game.”
And as for the netminders?
“Both our goalies have played great this year. I think (Thompson), that last game in Montreal, I think he stopped three or four breakaways in that third period, made saves on every one of them,” Dowd said. “He’s been playing great, really giving us an opportunity to win every night, and Charlie's been doing the exact same. They’ve been playing almost every other game, which is interesting, because it’s a different routine – but I think our team has changed a little bit as well where we're playing much better team defense, so these guys are facing less shots. But they’re both playing great, the backbone of our team and the reason we're winning a lot of hockey games.”
Listen to Dowd’s entire visit above, as he goes deeper on the team defense, Coach Carbs' influence on the squad, and more!