The Washington Capitals needed to grab two points in Montreal and did with a 5-2 victory. Did they look good while doing it? No.
That’s just how this team is playing right now.
- That was just a poor effort all around and they got bailed out by this Habs team being one of the worst in NHL history. The Canadiens out-high danger chanced the Caps at five-on-five 10 to 4 including a 6 to 0 second period. The Caps mustered a grand total of 23 shots against what is an absolutely abysmal team. Definitely starting to worry a bit.
- Ilya Samsonov had to make 42 saves. He was excellent in the third period where the Caps strategy seemed to be to just stand still and hope for the best. I didn’t like either of the two goals Sammy gave up but he was good when it mattered late to make sure this didn’t get close on the scoreboard.
- Joe Snively got his first and second career NHL goals. He now has five points in six games after this three-point showing.
Snively is the eighth #Caps rookie to score his first NHL goal this season, joining McMichael, Protas, Fehervary, Leason, Malenstyn, Pilon and Lapierre.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 11, 2022
- Minus-23 shot attempt differential, minus-12 scoring chance differential, and a minus-5 high danger chance differential for Dmitry Orlov at five-on-five. That’s shockingly awful for someone who is consistently not.
- Somehow Connor McMichael still only ended up with 7:28 of ice time even though his line managed to stay above water analytically which was rare for a Capitals player in this game. He even scored too. Not sure what else you can really ask for. I guess maybe to be a few years older.
- 0-for-3 on the power play again and the penalty kill gave up another goal. The “maybe if we just ignore it” play is really not working out for the special teams units.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
