Alright, everybody. Here it is: the garbage game. Caps vs Habs was an unflushed toilet of hockey for fifty minutes, then fun for ten, and then it was over and now we can move on. But please read this recap first.
So this game was unbearable for 25 minutes. The Canadiens struck three times (Gallagher, Galchenyuk, Flash) before the Capitals offense even woke up, spurred by Jason Chimera and Marcus Johansson’s net-front effort to put the Caps on the board. Before the second intermission the Habs scored yet again, Galchenyuk’s second of the night.
The Caps rallied in the third. Dmitry Orlov scored a top-shelf wrister with seven minutes left, and Andre Burakovsky threaded the needle in the final three. Exciting finish to a stinker.
Habs beat Caps 4-3.
Trap game —> Trapt song
- Tom Wilson committed two penalties in the first period, neither of which was very good. Trotz effectively benched Wilson in the second period before returning him to action on the penalty kill. I’d say that he deserves more punishment, but for some reason I don’t have the heart. Ouch.
- Surrendering 3 goals on 18 shots, this was not Braden Holtby‘s night. Holtby was pulled, and Philipp Grubauer did great in relief. Bad nights happen. No big.
- Brooks Orpik, playing in his 800th career NHL game, was whistled for penalty, resulting in a penalty shot that Grubauer easily saved. I think it was a bogus call, and I’m constitutionally disinclined to defend Orpik.
- Mike Richards threatened to score his second Caps goal, but a freak elbow save (is that a thing?) by Mike Condon denied him… and set up a breakaway wherein Lars Eller ran Grubauer. Matt Niskanen was like oh hell no
Matt Niskanen is my spirit animal pic.twitter.com/C3p5HJbjKg
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) February 25, 2016
- TJ Oshie was sent from a handsome suburb of hell just to torment me. I counted– what– 30 or 40 thousand scoring chances without a goal?
- Nothing going for Alex Ovechkin beside a pair of shots on goal, an assist on Orlov’s thing, and a smelling-salt GIF.
- Dmitry Orlov did alright by 5v5 shot-attempt differential, but his sloppy play in the offensive zone led to a bunch of odd-man rushes for the Habs that made this game so unpleasant to watch. It was like an Adam Oates game, except without the Adam Oates system. Orly’s stellar sharp-angle score in the third period went a long way towards redeeming his night.
- Remember when we were worried about Andre Burakovsky? We were so dumb. 13 goals and counting.
Joe B suit of the night
Every team is gonna have a night where they’re just molten feces, and tonight was that night for the Washington Capitals. The trouble with the skaters, I think, was twofold: 1) irresponsible puck control in neutral leading to turnovers; and 2) sloppy, over-committed offense prone to allowing odd-man rushes.
But let’s be real: the main problem was in finishing. The Habs hit the back of the net, and the Caps did not– for the most part. Braden Holtby put up one of his five worst starts of the season, and Washington could not solve Mike Condon until it was too late.
So the Caps need to look real close at this game and make some hard decisions about if this really the way they want to —
JK. No they don’t. If it turns out the whole team was in a fugue state for the day and everyone forgets the whole thing, that’s fine by me. It’s just one bad game. They should forget it. Forget it all except the comeback effort. In the postgame the Caps might say they’re pissed about it, but they’ll get over it, and then they’ll whip the Wild on Friday night.
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