The Capitals went to Edmonton coming off of a very poor showing in Vancouver looking for a big two road points. They got those two points in a 5-2 victory over the Oilers on the backs of some great goaltending and some unlikely scoring sources.
The Oilers out attempted the Capitals 62 to 53 at five-on-five and outshot the Capitals 40 to 31. Some of that shot discrepancy can be explained by the four power plays the Oilers had to the Caps zero.
- Braden Holtby was not good enough in Vancouver Thursday night, leading to Barry Trotz having to pull him from his net after allowing a fifth goal to the Canucks in only 35 minutes. He was the exact opposite of “not good enough” on Saturday night, as the Oilers had over 25 shot attempts either basically in his lap or directly in the slot. Holtby overall made 38 stops in a bounce-back effort against a very good offensive team in the Oilers, who are due to start lighting up the scoreboard. Holtby made sure the Caps weren’t going to be the team to face that wrath.
- I’ve taken a liking to following the Caps two youngest defensemen in these morning after posts and shall continue to do so. Madison Bowey had his first multi-point night in the NHL and also was 3rd overall on the team when it comes to shot attempt percentage (54.55%). Christian Djoos also held his own finishing 6th overall on the team (51.52%). More minutes and more progress for these two please.
- Anthony Peluso only skated 4:45 in his Capitals debut and in those few minutes committed two minor penalties. His benching probably ends his chances of slotting into the lineup over Nathan Walker again.
- Brooks Orpik played 27:47 in this one (only playing fewer minutes than John Carlson) at the ripe age of 37. Orpik has never played that many minutes in his regular season tenure with the Capitals. The last time he did top that was in 2013 with the Pens. A big chunk of those minutes came shorthanded, but I still think Trotz isn’t leaning enough on the younger defensemen like Bowey and Djoos.
- With his three assists, Alex Ovechkin tallied his 300th multi-point game in the NHL. He is only the second Russian-born player to accomplish that feat, the other, of course, being Sergei Fedorov.
- Speaking of those three assists, Saturday night was the first time Ovechkin accomplished the feat since November of 2014 in a game against the Arizona Coyotes in which the Caps lost 6-5 despite a four point night from the Great Eight.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a filthy goal to extend the Caps lead, but he also led the team in individual shot attempts (9) and shots (5). A more trigger happy Kuzy seems to create more opportunities for his line overall. He struggled again in the face off circle, however, only winning 2 out of his 15 draws (13.33%).
- Two Caps got on the board for the first time this season. Lars Eller and Devante Smith-Pelly both opened their 2017-18 accounts to tie the game up at two. More offense from players like those two is definitely needed, especially with the current injury issues.
- The Arizona Coyotes have not won a game in 11 tries this season. That’s a seven point pace over 82 games.
Numbers thanks to Hockeystats.ca and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Photo: Andy Devlin
