Bad Sasha
Upon hearing of the passing of Leonard Nimoy, the Washington Capitals were too distraught to play competent hockey against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. Instead of generating shots and suppressing the opponent’s offense, they did more of that butthockey thing we saw the other night.
The Caps couldn’t get anything going, and Brent Bellemore exploited Evgeny Kuznetsov’s turnover to put the Canes up. The doldrums continued in the second, when Jeff Skinner sniped two put the Caps in a two-goal hole. Third period was a chore, and then Nathan Gerbe got the empty netter.
Canes beat Caps 3-0. Shut-out city. Three losses in a row.
Appropriate song with the appropriate vibe:
I’m not gonna belabor this with bullets. It doesn’t deserve it. The Capitals are playing some of their worst hockey at the precise moment they’re supposed to be gearing up for the playoffs.
The Caps got one shot on goal early, but struggled to give that shot a bathroom buddy until darn near the first intermission. The offense was few and far between, but the defensive breakdowns were bountiful. How many times did you see Green or Niskanen, solo, facing down one or two guys in black on the attack? Even strength was weak.
And day what you will of the lines. They weren’t good, that’s for sure, but we saw the consensus optimal lines the other night and that was still a debacle. Whatever plagues the Capitals right now, it’s not isolated to one or two bad players.
If Maclellan is trying to make a trade before the deadline, tonight did nothing to raise the stock of his assets. The lone exception was maybe Braden Holtby, whose aggro attack in the third period was an oasis of joy in a desert of despair, but ain’t no one trading the Holtbeast.
Chimera wasn’t bad, I guess. No, seriously. I know. I’m surprised too.
Cam Ward didn’t play tonight, but the Canes did honor him for having played 500 games. I really only mention this so I can show you Alan May pwning Ian for being snarky about it.
@ianoland how many games have you played?
— Alan May (@MayHockeyNBCS) February 28, 2015
Haha. Burn.
Joe B suit of the night
So, in summary, vis a vis the game we just saw, in lieu of going out with my friends, I hereby conclude, having just watched the aforementioned game, and whereas I’m not at all padding to get the word count up, this was a dull game.
We need… I don’t know. Something.
Source: #Blackhawks and Capitals have had dialogue about possible trade involving Patrick Sharp.
— Chris Kuc (@ChrisKuc) February 28, 2015
Oh. Yeah. That’ll do it. That’ll freaking do it.
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