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Flames beat Caps 4-1 as Thanksgiving week begins

By Peter Hassett

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November 20, 2017 10:33 pm

The Washington Capitals looked great for maybe ten minutes of Monday’s home game with the Calgary Flames. After that, the Flames exerted their will all over Capital One Arena. Four unanswered goals made it an easy win for the road team and yet another blowout loss for the Caps.

Lars Eller opened up scoring with a terrific assist by Jakub Vrana. Johnny Gaudreau returned fire with a roofer on the rush. The second period was all Flames, and Sean Monahan made it count with on a broken play. Mikael Backlund and Mark Giordano recorded back-to-back power-play goals in the third.

Caps lose 4-1.

  • In those first few minutes, this was a lovely game. Jakub Vrana looked every bit the top-sixer in setting Lars Eller for this goal. Four assists for Jake, four goals for the Tiger.
  • But golly, the Flames just sorta took over right around the same time the game turned ten minutes old.
  • It seems like Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen had the tough job of countering the Johnny Gaudreau line, and they did just fine. Everyone else sorta got smushed. The Caps spent a lot of time in their own zone, and their rare jaunts into offense tended to end abruptly. It was one of those games where I’m certain we’ll hear talk of “urgency” and “compete level” about it.
  • Things were no better during the power play, where the Caps went 0 for three, ending a three-game streak with four power-play goals.
  • The PK was busy, which was only partially the fault of low discipline/playing without the puck all night. The calls on Backstrom and Bowey were a sham. Nevertheless, the Caps got cracked for two during two staggered penalties in the final frame, which just sucked the air out of the arena for the duration.
  • I have no position on this, but I find the conversation interesting.

  • TJ Oshie had no shots on goal, but he rang the crossbar during an early power play. The scorekeeper calls that a miss, so his shooting percentage is thankfully unaffected.
  • Brooks Orpik got smoked like a honey-glazed Virginia ham. Out-shot to the tune of 22 to 7. I’ve been told I need to appreciate him more, and I’m trying. I’m really trying. Maybe while I make that effort, the coaches and managers can try to appreciate that a 37-year-old is playing almost five minutes more every night than he did last year.

Thanksgiving is coming. Sleep tight.

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