The Washington Capitals suffered their first regulation loss of the season on Monday night, dropping a road game to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Firstly, Brett Leason scored Washington’s first goal of the night, a funny bounce off Victor Hedman. Tampa scored two in the second period — one from Killorn and then a two-man advantage conversion from Cirelli. Early in the third period, Brayden Point got a jailbreak pass to put the Caps in a two-goal hole.
Conor Sheary absorbed a crosscheck to score from the paint on a third period power play. The Caps could not complete the comeback.
Caps lose.
- This was certainly Washington’s weakest effort of the season in terms of controlling even-strength play. Tampa had the puck a lot more, though Washington managed to generate looks on the rush, which is … um… different?
- Also different: children! Aliaksei Protas made his NHL debut with a rookie solo lap, and then Brett Leason scored his first NHL goal by banking a puck off a Norris winner to beat a Vezina winner. The Caps fighting against their core aging was always going to be a struggle this season, but I love how they’re handling it so far.
- More than four minutes of ice time wouldn’t hurt though.
- We all know they ask how many, but I swear I’ve heard ’em ask how too.
- Through two periods, Alex Ovechkin had eight shot attempts, five on net. And yet he was miles behind the expected goals leader (xG from Natural Stat Trick), Lars Eller, who got a lot of looks from super up-close but could not convert. Frustrating.
That was Dmitry Orlov’s second minor of the game and seventh of season, tying him for NHL lead. No one else on Capitals has more than 3
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) November 2, 2021
- But not as frustrating as the penalties, especially the ones against Dmitry Orlov. Those were all legit penalties to my eyes, albeit soft ones. (I’m not sure Orlov was the perpetrator in the trip though.) Those penalties were made maddening just because we saw Tampa get away with some extralegal stick work and plays that definitely would’ve been interference is Tom Wilson would just fall down every once in a while. That five-on-three in the second period was a backbreaker.
- I really like Conor Sheary as the low man on the power play. Blaine sometimes likes to have a sacrificial softboy in his power play formulations. A thankless job where you just get your ass kicked nonstop and sometimes get a goal. Sheary is a good fit for that role. Glad to see him get his first of the season.
Here comes @JoeBpXp from inside Craig’s playhouse. #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/sNPnf3GDyg
— Good Tweet Pete 🌮 (@peterhassett) November 1, 2021
I think that might be the weakest I’ve seen the Caps look during five-on-five play this season. Against a team as fearsome as the Bolts, that’s not a terrible thing. The Caps still got their chances, after all.
I’m not gonna talk about the Chicago thing again tonight, but it’s still a fiasco. Here’s Sean Gentille writing righteously over at The Athletic. An excerpt: “Protecting the league, its owners and its money is the goal. Doing the right thing — being decent, being human — is somewhere down the list. It’s a luxury. It’s a side quest. They’re here so they don’t get sued.”
The Caps will have a few days off in Florida and then another tough roadie against the excellent-so-far Panthers. This will not be an easy week.
Headline photo: NBC Sports Washington
