Saturday afternoon the Washington Capitals made their first trip to UBS Arena to take on the New York Islanders. The Caps are amid a spell of not great play and hoped a matchup with the Isles could provide the spark they needed to get moving in a more positive direction.
Tom Wilson received a backhand feed from Aliaksei Protas and fired a wrister past Semyon Varlamov to open the scoring. We got nada in the second.
Alex Ovechkin empty netter.
Capitals beat Islanders 2-0!
- The first period was actually fantastic for the Caps for like the first 18 minutes. In the final two minutes, they decided to lose all sense of being able to make quality decisions and gave the Islanders three high danger chances basically for free. That feels like something that has crept into their game far too often recently.
- TJ Oshie took maybe one and a half shifts and then left and was labeled as out for the rest of the game due to an upper-body injury. The Capitals are a far worse team without Oshie and it sucks how in-and-out he has been this season. I cannot wait until the constant roster shuffle is over.
- Tom Wilson scored his first goal since December 6 and it was the first Caps goal scored in UBS Arena history. I’m sure Isles fans just love that. Willy really needs to step it back up offensively if the lineup keeps shifting as it has been.
IT’S HOCKEY O’COOCK! #ALLCAPS #LETSGOCAPS #COACHSAFFYBEAN does not enjoy morning SoCal games!! Had to warm up the grumble-maker!! pic.twitter.com/z6jyNFDnZJ
— Saffy Bean (@SaffyBean) January 15, 2022
- The Islanders did literally nothing in the second period. They barely existed to just stand in the way of the Capitals. That’s kinda their game though as negative and boring as it is to watch. Keeping this game just 1-0 for too long feels like just asking for what we all know can happen.
- Does the Isles logo at center ice seem gigantic to anyone else? It’s kinda cartoonish big. The neutral zone is almost entirely orange and blue.
- I’m a huge fan of Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael. I think Brett Leason gets a little caught behind them when it comes to getting some love so I’m gonna change that now. I think he’s found an extra step skating wise and if he ever develops more confidence offensively and becomes a tad sturdier defensively, the Caps have a really good one on their hands. He was a late bloomer in the WHL so don’t be surprised if he repeats that same growth trend at the pro level.
- I would rather jam forks in my eyeballs instead of watching the Capitals power play. The fact that they’re just trying to power through it this season will lop years off of my life. What’s the definition of insanity again?
Madison Square Garden THIS WEDNESDAY @TheGarden @NYRangers 🏒🥅 pic.twitter.com/3B4cQ2a1Ge
— DJ Pauly D (@DJPaulyD) January 15, 2022
- The third was a little less boring I guess. The Isles purposefully play like this in the year 2022. It’s a literal punishment to watch your favorite team play them.
- Daniel Sprong seemingly hates the Islanders. I think he was unlucky to not be on the scoresheet in this game. When he gets his feet moving with the puck he literally can turn into Connor McDavid sometimes as a one-man entry and chance creator. It’d be nice if he could just do that…all the time.
- I wrote an article yesterday about how the Capitals have a goaltending issue and should make a trade soon. Vitek Vanecek then promptly recorded shutout. I thought he was fantastic on the penalty kill and at the end there when they had their goaltender pulled.
Lovely understated color scheme here from @JoeBpXp in the #joebsuitofthenight of the mid afternoon pic.twitter.com/rQzHnd28TH
— good_tweet_pete.eth (@peterhassett) January 15, 2022
The Caps will get right back after it tomorrow as they’ll host Bruce Boudreau’s Vancouver Canucks for another weekend matinee matchup.
Headline photo: Adam Marcus
