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Happy ending to a bad game: Caps beat Oilers 2-1 in the shootout

By Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) on November 12, 2017 | 0 Comment

The Edmonton Oilers were a bit drowsy after their loss on Saturday night loss to the New York Rangers. The Washington Capitals were rested, but they just aren’t a very good hockey team right now, which is a bummer, but not enough to keep them out of the win column.

Sunday’s game was scoreless through forty minutes, which maybe doesn’t illustrate how one-sided play was. Early in the third, Jujhar Khaira got a dirty goal from up close. Dmitry Orlov returned fire after an excellent pass from Tom Wilson, and we headed into overtime, which was buckwild but fruitless.

So here’s some shootout bullets!

  • Oshie put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Draisaitl did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Kuznetsov did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • McDavid did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Backstrom did not put the biscuit in the basket.
  • Letestu did not put the biscuit in the basket.

Caps win 2-1 in the shootout! Somehow!

  • An Oilers goal in the second period was disallowed when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins interfered with Braden Holtby. It’s one of those plays where you see whatever you wanna see; I know because at first I was certain that Holtby dived, then it was a coin toss, and then later I was convinced that there was some Cobra Kai/sweep the leg stuff going on.
  • Braden Holtby was incredible in career win 201, especially when the Capitals team defense all got hit by sleep darts at the same time near the end of the second period.
  • I mean, I get why Maroon was so peeved about it. Holtby really was awesome.
  • Hey. Tom Wilson did a fight. It was boring, but after that gorgeous pass to set up Dmitry Orlov, I don’t care. Any game with a pass that pretty is a good game. Thumbs up emoji!
  • Dmitry Orlov‘s first goal of the season was also his first since March 23. The two guys who assisted him that night play for other teams now: Marcus Johansson and Justin Williams.
  • For some reason, Barry Trotz matched up against Connor McDavid with these five players: Brooks Orpik, John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Devante Smith-Pelly. That quintet, who had been dominated up until Sunday, also got owned by McDavid.  This was just a totally baffling coaching decision. I don’t understand why Trotz wanted this, and I don’t understand why he didn’t make adjustments once it was punishingly obvious how disastrous it was.
  • Nicklas Backstrom went 10 for 12 on the faceoff. I dunno. I know it doesn’t matter, but that’s an outlier, so I made it into a bullet. Again, I dunno.
  • Joe B and Craig Laughlin mused about how much fun it would be to watch these two teams in 3-on-3 overtime. They were half right. The Oilers looked like they had rocket skates on. That initial Draisaitl/McDavid rush was unfortunate since I really liked Trotz’s opening trio: Kuznetsov, Orlov, and Oshie. I hope he sticks with that.

Even with the win, this was not a good hockey game, the Caps were really lacking in their performance, but that’s not the same thing as saying that 2017-18 Caps are bad. They might be right now, but the dreariness of nights like this isn’t immutable. Everything looks broken because the Caps are so stifled in their own end by a defensive corps that is so obviously lacking. That’s okay. It’s November, and Matt Niskanen isn’t playing. But if they’re stuck in the mud once Nisky is back, and they’re still icing Brooks Orpik for 23-plus minutes a night, and if Ness and Chorney are still on the active roster, then, well, woof.

Full Coverage of Caps vs Oilers

Headline photo: Patrick McDermott

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