Photo: Scott Audette
Tampa is an unrated city. It’s full of strip clubs and personal injury lawyers. The beaches are only 45 minutes away. There’s a nice apartment complex across the channel from Amalie Arena. On Saturday, the Washington Capitals took to those glorious environs looking to bounce back from their terrible game against the Panthers to the southeast.
The game got off to an auspicious start when Jay Beagle took a puck off the face and then flipped it off Ben Bishop’s back to put Washington up 1-0. The Caps then sucked for 10 minutes and had some terrible power plays, but they survived with the lead.
In the second, Evgeny Kuznetsov dropped a Chanukah miracle, once again exploiting Big Ben’s lack of 360 degree vision.
The final frame was blahhhh. I originally had the blah in there as a placeholder for whatever actually happened, but it aptly describes Washington’s third period. Blahhhhhhh. Braden Holtby is good, though, so the Caps won. Caps beat Bolts 2-1.
- Barry Trotz tried a new bottom six and it was nice. They were the only ones not underwater in even strength shot attempt differential. On the third, Stan Galiev showed off his skill, setting up a few good chances, including Beagle’s off the face tally.
- Andre Burakovsky also got back into the lineup. While the fourth line barely saw the ice, Burra fired four shots towards the net, including one nice drive that hit the post twice.
- This was billed as a goalie battle. Braden Holtby, the NHL’s leader in wins, faced Ben Bishop, who is tied with Holtby for the league lead in goals against average. Neither goalie allowed a goal from in front of them, but only Holtby was not beaten from the rear. Holts kept the Caps in the game early. Save for a third period PP tally, he was perfect. Win number 18 for Braden. Thirty-five saves.
- Matt Niskanen and Karl Alzner were baaaaaad. They got killed at even strength while Niskanen put the Caps shorthanded twice.
- Alex Ovechkin had one shot on goal, which is super weird. Surprisingly, that’s not the first time that’s happened this season. He did hit the post though.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s skill always deserves a bullet. Even video games don’t have those moves.
- There were two fights tonight, both of them the result of innocent Capitals being forced into tomfoolery for self defense. Tom Wilson and That Rep led to the first while Nate Schmidt, literally the nicest guy, was targeted for extinction by Justin Brown for daring to stand behind the net. Silly business.
- That third period was horrific. Tampa outshot the Caps 14-1.
This Caps team has been fantastic, but the last few games are cause for worry. As the Caps learned in last year’s playoffs, relying on Braden Holtby isn’t foolproof. Time to try harder.
But hey, the Caps are 20-6-2 and it’s gonna be 72 and sunny tomorrow.
