Despite all recent evidence to the contrary, the Washington Capitals are still a hockey team. But Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, the first Caps game since the mid 80s, intimated that the Caps may have diminished in intensity during their long break.
They looked particularly a bit rusty in the early going, especially in comparison to Pavel Datsyuk and Dylan Larkin, who combined for the Wings’ first goal. But on one of their 275 first period power plays, the Caps returned fire with a tip-in by Justin Williams.
No one scored forever, so we went to overtime, where Kuznetsov won it.
Caps beat Wings 2-1 in overtime!
- Larkin’s goal was exactly result you’d expect from: a) the top line overcommitted, b) the Caps’ weakest defensive pairing out against, c) Pavel Datsyuk, who should not still be this good, and d) Titus [?] Chorney‘s inadequate gap control versus Dylan Larkin.
- Detroit was acutely naughty in the opening period, committing four penalties for which the Capitals punished them with one goal. Alex Ovechkin came in like a wrecking ball that period with 5 shots on goal, but he quieted down as soon as the NBC coverage team made a note of his offense. He finished with 6 shots and 0 goals. Dammit.
- Right around the game’s midway point, the Caps lost their will to live. Detroit out-attempted Washington 12 to 4 in the final ten minutes of the second period. The only reason the Wings didn’t pile on 2 or 3 goals then is Braden Holtby. Check out this gem of a save.
- You the real MVP, penalties.
- Wings goalie Petr Mrazek took a puck up high late in the third period but stayed in the game somehow. Maybe it sounded worse than it looked. Like, the actual sound effect. I sincerely thought he got Theismann’d in the collarbone. I’m glad to be wrong.
- On that thought: great goaltending in this game on both teams.
- The Red Wings aren’t even a shadow of what they used to be, but on Wednesday they had enough leftover possession mojo to streamroll the Caps. Pretty much everyone was deep in the red of on-ice shot differential. Mike Green, meanwhile, well, damn. Dude can play. Glad to see him playing at least.
- For a team outplayed and outshot, the Caps inexplicably had a bunch of chances to steal this game. Marcus Johansson and Nate Schmidt missed mostly empty nets, and John Carlson had a A1 scoring chance late in which he grabbed the puck from the air, spiked it, and put it on net.
- In a late-game penalty, Alex Ovechkin wanted a penalty shot for a covered puck in the crease. The puck was actually covered outside the crease. Pierre remarked, “You can’t fault a guy for trying, eh, Eddie?” Olczyk paused and then replied with an audible shrug, “I dunno.” What a dick.
Here's Evgeny Kuznetsov hitting Mike Green #weird pic.twitter.com/ApbwgZVoUU
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 19, 2015
Stole that win from the jaws of whatever. Good finish, Kuzy.
Because it’s all we’re gonna talk about in comments: I agree; the power play isn’t quite working, and they’re a bit on tilt. It’s not just in activating the Ovi Spot; it’s probably more so in getting in the zone and set up. I don’t think it’s just the league’s defenses adjusting. Gimme your take.
Then let’s do it all again tomorrow. Dallas is in town, and they’re really good.
