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Caps drop season opener to Bruins, 5-2

By Peter Hassett

 5 Comments

October 12, 2022 9:33 pm

The Washington Capitals lost their first game of the season, but I thought they were fine. Seems like the Boston Bruins just got the bounces and finished all their big plays. Let’s get into it.

Listen. Goal summaries are hard. Let’s ease into it gradually. The Bruins scored the first three goals: Bergeron from a rebound on the power play, Pastrnak with some good movement then fast release from the slot, then Hall with an odd-man rush. The Caps got the next two: Strome setting up Mantha at the goal mouth, then Sheary with an end-to-end clinic. David Krecji executed a two-on-one to make it 4-2 late in the third. Lindholm got the empty-netter. Okay, that wasn’t too bad.

Caps lose.

  • The Capitals played fine. It’s one game. We are ants on the rim on a large chandelier. We know nothing.
  • This was Kuznetsov’s 600th game and Kuemper’s 300th.
  • Dylan Strome didn’t need long to get his first point as a Capital. That was an expert pass to Anthony Mantha. I think he was a genius addition to the team in the offseason — both the who and the how.
  • Marcus Johansson looked great with the puck– controlling offensive-zone time, doing zone entries on the power play, passing through neutral. Everywhere except right in front of the net. The first highlight of the season was Marcus blowing a scoring chance. (He was tripped. This is a bit.)
  • Boston’s Jake DeBrusk got hit by Washington’s new defender, Erik Gustafsson, in the first period. He tried coming back but couldn’t.

  • Washington’s power play did very little, none of which would be shown on a scoreboard after four opportunities. I’m pretty down on this part of their game.
  • Also on the criticism tip: I did not like the Carlson-Fehervary pairing. They were on ice for two Bruins goals, with Fehervary losing his stick on one of them. Fehervary also gave Boston their second power play of the third period. (Chris said in Discord of that penalty: “dive city.”) That duo was one of Laviolette’s biggest and most obvious follies last season. I hope they either get better together or maybe they should just split up.
  • Just check out the maximum effort from Conor Sheary on his goal. I like this player more every day. The Caps said he’s tied with Kuznetsov for third most goals on the team in the last three years.

  • This is your obligatory national broadcast hate bullet: Garbage! TNT made sure to slam the Capitals with every bit of commentary. Strome’s pass was an accident, Ovechkin is a one-trick pony, Oshie’s trying too hard to impress us with his hairstyle. I’m sorry but I used to go to bars and I know negging when I hear it. Can’t wait for Joe B and Locker tomorrow.

Speaking of which: we’ll have a Joe B suit of the night tomorrow. That makes me smile.

Okay one game down. A loss, sure, but a good effort with lessons to learn from. Bad power play, good secondary scoring. Bad bounces, but good times with good buds. Bad top-pairing defense, but good that Aliaksei Protas is huge.

Headline photo: @pennybacker

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