Home / Game Recap / Hershey night in DC: Kings beat Capitals 3-2

Hershey night in DC: Kings beat Capitals 3-2

By Peter Hassett

 2 Comments

December 19, 2021 9:46 pm

The Washington Capitals, still direly depleted, played better than the Los Angeles Kings at home on Sunday night. It’s just that the scoreboard didn’t agree. Three unanswered goals blew what should have a been a scrappy win by the Washington Bears.

Connor McMichael scored on the rush in the first period, assisted by hometown boy Joe Snively. In the second period, Justin Schultz waited until just after a four-minute power play expired before scoring to make it 2-0. Blake Lizotte scored a shorthanded goal late in the second, then Christian Wolanin caught a big rebound early in the third to tie the game.

With ten minutes left in the third, Adrian Kempe got a lucky break, beating Vitek Vanecek with the puck rolling off his stick, giving the Kings the lead.

Caps lose.

  • The Capitals had six power-play opportunities through the first two periods, and they were outscored in that time. Blaine Forsyth should be very grateful that Backstrom, Oshie, and Kuznetsov are unavailable right now. They are individually his quarterback, his hidden dagger, and his zone-entry key. They are collectively his excuse. The PP has one goal in their last twenty-one opportunities.
  • Joe Snively grew up not too far from here, and on Sunday night he recorded his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. Snively had a nice assist on McMichael’s game-opener.

  • Quietly, Conor Sheary has brewed a five-game point streak. Ian and I both liked when he tried some goal-line action on the power play.
  • The officials were short one linesman. You’ll never guess why unless you guess COVID. It was COVID. The shorthanded officials loved handing out penalties, and this game was particularly chippy for no apparent reason I can discern. Excessive AHL energy?
  • The LA Kings came up with a brilliant strategy to stop Alex Ovechkin: human shields. The Kings blocked eight of his. Missing most of his friends, Ovechkin played a ton of minutes in this one: 26:30.
  • Vitek Vanecek didn’t face a ton of shots, but that rebound to Christian Wolanin to allow him to score for the first time since like 2019 was really bad. The Kempe goal was just a freak bounce to my eyes, but it’s hard not to see this game as a setback for him.
  • Really strong broadcast from the NBC Sports Washington team. We’ll miss them on Tuesday, which will be broadcast nationally (sort of) on ESPN+.

Yeah, that was unfortunate.

See you Tuesday as the Caps head up to Philly. Or do you think that game will even happen?

Headline photo: Pam Ford

,