The winningest team of the 2010s ended said decade losing two games in a row in regulation…because of course they did. The Washington Capitals fell to their former bench boss and his New York Islanders by a score of 4-3 to end 2019.
The Caps out-shot the Isles 38 to 22 and out-attempted them at five-on-five 70 to 39.
- Haha, what a clever title right? Thought of that original one all by myself. Anyway, hockey now. The Islanders per usual, lost basically every single worthwhile five-on-five metric battle there is and still won because that’s how they play hockey and it works because voodoo magic and Mitch Korn. They somehow survived a third period that saw the Caps at five-on-five out-shoot them 14 to 3, out-attempt them by 20, out-scoring chance them by six, and out high danger chance them by two. The Islanders should legitimately trademark this game’s Natural Stat Trick report.
- Nicklas Backstrom was your assist leader of the decade, and with an assist in this game he reached the 700 point total in the 2010s. He is one of only seven players to reach that mark. Put him in the Hall you cowards.
- We’re still in a bad patch for Braden Holtby in net. The Holtbeast let another four past him Tuesday afternoon, this time on 22 total shots.
Isles hang on for 4-3 win.
First time this season Capitals have lost consecutive games in regulation.
Final shots were 38-22 Caps
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) December 31, 2019
- Barry Trotz is now a perfect 3-0 in his return visits to Capital One Arena. Conversely, he is a non-perfect 0-3 against the Caps in New York.
- The Caps power play was only 0-for-2, so this bullet is more of an overall season comment than anything. It feels like to me, more than ever, teams are just residing to completely taking Alex Ovechkin out of the equation. That has been leaving wide open shooting lanes for the two guys on the half wall in Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov. I think it may be time to experiment with putting a shooter like Jakub Vrana out there (or maybe cough Ilya Kovalchuk cough) who even though he is a right shot would be more dangerous given that kind of room to shoot.
- Caps won a Stanley Cup this decade by the way. Just a quick closing fact for ya.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Islanders
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
