The Washington Capitals went into Monday night’s action winners of all three prior meetings with the Carolina Hurricanes this season. They did not leave with four wins. The Canes beat up on the Caps in a 6-1 trouncing.

Let’s forget this one.

• This is going to be a shorter one because there’s not a whole lot to take from a game like this. I don’t think the Caps were really ever “in” this game but at the same time, it was a blowout loss that I’m not exactly mad about. The Canes were due against the Caps and punished individual defensive mistakes over and over again. The Caps actually ended up with more five-on-five scoring chances with 19 to the Canes 16.
• I didn’t think Vitek Vanecek had a good game which really did not help. He saw five go in behind him on 23 shots and I thought two of those maybe even three when you consider a poor rebound were a little suspect.
• Tom Wilson completed the goal and fight portion of a Gordie Howe hat trick. That was one of Wilson’s more decisive fight wins in a good bit as he whipped Brendan Smith. He’s on a five-game point streak now.
• Five days off from games now for the Caps. I suspect we’ll see a different lineup come Sunday as some dudes will likely get healthy here in a couple of days. Let’s hope they get back in the win column against the Wild.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.