Another day, another L.
In what’s becoming the norm for the Washington Capitals of late, they couldn’t get anything going during a 3-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on home ice, and dropped their 5th-straight game in regulation. They have scored 2 or fewer goals in all but 1 of those losses (a 6-3 L at the hands of the Florida Panthers).
It is the first time since 2014 that the Caps have dropped 5-straight games in regulation.
The Caps started off this game by giving up the first goal of the game for a 5th-straight outing, and were playing from behind once again, which is problematic when you’re struggling to score goals.
They were then given a 5-minute power play chance after Dylan Larkin crosschecked TJ Oshie in the face (Larkin was also given a game misconduct/ejected from the game), but they promptly gave up a shorthanded goal. 2-0 Red Wings.
Tom Wilson did then get one back for the good guys during that very same power play, executing a nice redirection of an Erik Gustafsson shot-pass after Nicklas Backstrom made the initial neat play to keep the puck alive/away from the Detroit defenders. 2-1 Red Wings on Wilson’s 4th goal of the season (in just his 10th game), assists to Gustafsson & Backstrom.
But that’s as close as the Caps would get.
To their credit, they started the 3rd period with a huge push, and had the first 11 shot attempts (9 on goal) of the period before Detroit scored on their first shot of the period following a terrible Evgeny Kuznetsov giveaway in the slot. He basically passed it right to the Red Wings player right in front of Darcy Kuemper. Not sure how that happens in the 3rd period of a 2-1 hockey game with the playoffs on the line, but here we are.
The Caps out-shot, out-hit, out-possessed the Red Wings in this game, but they were again on the wrong side of it where it matters — on the scoreboard. And time is running out to reverse that trend. They’ll get another shot at it on Thursday night, against the Anaheim Ducks. But for now, the Red Wings have passed them in the standings by way of games in hand, with the Caps now falling all the way to 11th in the East.
Some notes from this one:
The good:
- Tom Wilson has 2 goals in 2 games, scoring in back-to-back games coming off of injured reserve. If not for Wilson in these last 2 games, the Caps would’ve been shutout in back-to-back outings. Not great, Bob.
- Nic Dowd brought a lot of energy in his long-awaited return to the lineup, and it started right from his very first shift, which was the opening shift of the game. Unfortunately, his work ethic and desire to win did not rub off on many of his Capitals teammates.
- Unfortunately, this already concludes the good list.
The not-so-good:
- Too many boneheaded/”I don’t give a f*ck if we make the playoffs or not” plays, with the most egregious on the night being the one that Nick Jensen & Evgeny Kuznetsov teamed up for in the 3rd period. To be fair to Kuznetsov, Jensen did start it with an extremely ill-advised pass to the front of his own net. I don’t know if Kuzy was calling for that puck or not, but it was just a bad decision either way. As has already been stated, 2-1 game, 3rd period, playoffs on the line… You just can’t be making that pass, regardless of whether Kuzy was asking for it or not. But even if it was Jensen who started it, it was certainly Kuznetsov who finished it, with a nice pass right onto the tape of the Detroit player’s stick in the slot. And given how badly the Caps are struggling to score goals of late, that giveaway and the subsequent Red Wings’ goal that came as a direct result of it were pretty much the dagger on this night for the Caps. But there was plenty of other stupidity to go around, too.
- For example: As touched on earlier, the Caps gave up a shorthanded goal to put themselves in an 0-2 hole, not an ideal plan of attack when you’re struggling to score even 2 goals per game. The shorty that they gave up came on a 2-on-1 rush, and that was AFTER not a minute earlier they had already given up a shorthanded breakaway (Kuemper stopped it).
- Dmitry Orlov had a couple of bad defensive plays tonight, although I do suspect that what we’re seeing with Orlov right now is John Carlson’s workload starting to wear on him, as Orlov has been playing some very heavy minutes ever since Carlson went out with injury. So I really don’t think that it’s a lack of wanting to win games on Orlov’s part, as I’ve never seen that lack of desire from him — I just think he’s simply exhausted right now.
- TJ Oshie had the puck on his stick right in the slot, and he decided to pass it off to the side – to an unsuspecting Nic Dowd – rather than shooting it. I had the Red Wings broadcast for this game as that’s what NHL Center Ice gave me, and the Wings’ broadcasters were absolutely flabbergasted – and thankful! – that Oshie didn’t shoot that puck. I don’t blame them. A pretty ridiculous piece of decision-making by #77 there.
- Lars Eller, as well, had multiple opportunities to shoot the puck tonight and wouldn’t do it. There was actually one time where he found himself pretty alone in the slot, and instead of just ripping it at the net, he actually skated himself right out of scoring position instead. So that’s certainly… A decision that you can make, I guess. I probably would’ve made a different decision.
- And one more negative and then I’m going to be done for the day because I don’t want to depress you guys too much, but it was another game where Darcy Kuemper failed to keep the goals against below 3. And I’m not really saying that as an indictment of Kuemper’s play, moreso just that we’re probably going to need him to stand on his head (even more) if we want to start banking some wins here, given the team’s scoring issues right now. We need him to be the team’s best player right now until his teammates can get their sh*t sorted out. It might not be fair to him, but that’s just the reality of the situation right now.
- Not-so-fun fact: Darcy Kuemper this season has seen the lowest goal support from his team of any goaltender in the league. The Caps simply do not score goals in front of him. His goals-against-average and save percentage are good. His win-loss record is not. A reminder that wins are a team stat.
- Anthony Mantha was also injured during the Caps-Red Wings game but to be quite honest I wasn’t even sure whether to put that under the “Bad News” header or if it truly belonged under the “Good News” header. Obviously we don’t wish injury on anyone and so hopefully it’s nothing too serious, though the Caps’ lineup might be better off if he misses some time with a not-too-serious boo-boo.
That’s all, folks.
