On a gloomy Sunday afternoon, we curled around the flatscreen to watch the Washington Capitals get a big lead over the New York Rangers and then nearly blow it on national television.
After a scoreless first period, Tom Wilson took Jakub Vrana’s rebound and turned it into a goal. Alex Ovechkin added a no-angle deflection goal, then Wilson got his second of the day to make it 3-0 after forty minutes. That was fun, but then it was over.
The Caps were way too loose in the third period. Evgeny Kuznetsov cameo’d with the fourth line to give the Caps a 4-0 lead in the third period. Colin Blackwell tucked the puck to crack Samsonov’s shutout and then chipped in a shot from up-close to make it 4-2. TJ Oshie’s eighth goal of the season brought us into bailamos territory. Alexis Lafreniere sunk a rebound to make it 5-3, then Chris Krieder got a power-play goal to make it a one-goal game.
Caps win! barely
Five goals again? Let’s blast some Enrique.
- The Washington Capitals have lost one game in regulation, dating back to February 21.
- The national broadcast on NBC cast Tom Wilson as the villain of today’s game, but instead he became the hero. Wilson had a ferocious game, starting with a strong, clean hit in his first shift. He scored two goals, drew a penalty, and used his battle meditation skills to thoroughly mind-hug both the Rags and broadcast crew.
- In the first period, Mika almost scored his fifth goal in as many games, banking a below-goal shot off TJ Oshie’s face. Instead, Dmitry Orlov saved it.
- Colin Blackwell‘s two goals during his third-period surge had something in common: Jakub Vrana was on the ice for both. Vrana saw the ice just one more time (not pictured below). He played a total of 10:13.
- Ilya Samsonov‘s two-game shutout bid ended 37 after shots. It had been kept alive by Orlov’s big save and also some conspicuous pings by Artemi Panarin in the first period and Zibanejad in the second. Things got pretty spotty for him in the third period, though the Caps seemed to lose their composure as well, giving the Rangers way too many looks. The turtling strategy by this team is in tatters.
- Alex Ovechkin had a mighty shift in the second period to bring him to 18 goals on the season. He has 11 goals just this month.
- The Caps power play remains ice cold, going oh-for-three and without a PP goal in five games.
No Joe B. Yuck.
these suits suck pic.twitter.com/TyaDZINJHD
— Zack Snyder’s Good Tweet Pete (@peterhassett) March 28, 2021
The Caps are now undisputed leaders of their division, two points ahead of the Isles with a game in hand.
Though they’re boss in the standings, they’re still a work in progress. The PP is sputtering, their lead protection is nonexistent, and they’re progressively alienating my special boy Jakub Vrana. Let’s see if they can make some adjustments.
RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Rangers
Screenshot courtesy of NBC Sports
