The illness- and injury-struck Washington Capitals came close to securing an unlikely road win on a back-to-back, but a late-game push by the Winnipeg Jets dashed those hopes.
Jakub Vrana scored a smart rush goal in the first period, bringing him to five on the season. Alex Ovechkin got whistled for a joke of a toepick in the second period, and Mark Scheifele responded immediately with a power-play goal for the Jets. Late in the third, Ben Chiarot’s wristshot beat Copley stick-side to give the Jets the game-winner. Kyle Connor got the empty-netter. Womp womp.
Caps lose 3-1.
- Here’s the lede: Evgeny Kuznetsov left the game in the first period after taking a hit to the head from Brandon Tanev. Kuzy played a short shift after the hit, but he looked a little woozy. He will be reevaluated tomorrow.
- Kuznetsov’s injury kinda piles it on. Michal Kempny missed the Winny game due to illness, and Braden Holtby has reportedly suffered an upper-body injury that we have been told not to worry about, but worry is what I do. Siegenthaler stepped in for Kempny, and long-time fan favorite Gavin McHale backed up Pheonix Copley.
- Personal bullet: I’m dogsitting this fella, Henry. First time I’ve watched a game with a pup since Ovie came to visit in the Finals, and before that it was Georgie. Good times.
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) November 15, 2018
- The Jets managed just two shots on goal in the first period, but that belies the flow of the game, which was slightly in their favor. We saw that in evidence when they peppered Caps goalie Pheonix Copley 14 times in the second period. That sounds bad, but Washington actually seemed to keep Winnipeg on the periphery and above the faceoff dots until the game’s back half. That was both rare and encouraging. (Of course, the Jets dominated the third period until garbage time.)
- I’m gonna do one bullet about two bad calls: Alex Ovechkin got busted for interference on an obvious and elaborate dive by Brandon Tanev, the same fella who injured Kuznetsov in a hit that I didn’t much like at the time and now I find myself growing crankier that Tanev served just two minutes.
- Penalties continue to be a problem for Washington, whose penalty kill ranks among the worst in the league. Going head-to-head with Winnipeg’s number-one ranked power play and, yeah, I’m not surprised it took ’em all of seven seconds to score on their first PP.
Nicklas Backstrom looked like he scored, but then Connor Hellebuyck happened. pic.twitter.com/6E1IxWAIp9
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 15, 2018
- Nicklas Backstrom, who I’ve been trying real hard to spell as Nicklas instead of Nick lately to make Ian feel better, manufactured a gorgeous scoring chance in the third period but was denied by a combination of infernal geometry and Connor Hellebuyck’s mad skills.
- On the other end of the ice, I did not love Pheonix Copley’s play in this one’s back half, but I also should know better than to judge a goalie on a handful of anecdotes. I sure do hope Holtby is healthy for Friday.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsJets Black! With a simply sensational red tie. pic.twitter.com/qxEmyLifIv
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 15, 2018
Welp, back to the Shake ‘N’ Bake league for Gavin.
Now the Caps head to Colorado for a Friday night date with the Avs. Philipp Grubauer should be the starter, so that’ll be interesting.
Looks like we’ve got weather coming tomorrow. Stay warm and safe!
