The Washington Capitals lost in regulation to the Arizona Coyotes by a final score of 3-2. That’s the intro. Yep.
Guess who had the pleasure of having a front-row seat inside Capital One Arena for that one? This guy.
- When you attend a home Capitals game against the Arizona Coyotes you’re normally expecting to see at least a win and maybe several goals ending up in the Coyotes’ net. The Caps did neither of those things as I sat and watched that puck slip behind Darcy Kuemper with just about 30 seconds remaining in the third period to give Arizona their first and final lead. The Caps held control of the game at five-on-five (57 to 35 in shot attempts) for really the entire night. Uh, that didn’t translate to the scoreboard.
- The Caps were unlucky to lose this one and if they’re at full strength likely never do. That’s the reality of their current situation though. They aren’t at full strength and won’t be for a very long time. To make matters worst, they lost Dmitry Orlov during this game. That gives them about $40 million of salary cap now on the shelf out with injury. Orlov only played seven minutes before departing with a lower-body issue.
- At least Alex Ovechkin scored and looked sweet while doing so in those Reverse Retros. Ovi put away his 787th career marker, moving him past Gordie Howe for the most goals with one franchise in National Hockey League history. He also jumped over Adam Oates for the 19th most points in NHL history (1,421).
Alex Ovechkin scores on the power play to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. It marks Ovechkin’s 787th career goal, moving him past Gordie Howe (786 goals with the Detroit Re Wings) for the most goals scored by a player with a single franchise. pic.twitter.com/wNlRzhO6tE
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 6, 2022
- I was cross with Anthony Mantha after the game in Detroit where he went scoreless for the seventh straight outing. He responded against the Yotes with a two-point night including his fourth goal of the season. That’s a start. Need more.
- First impressions on Sonny Milano were overall pretty good. Three shots on net, five individual shot attempts, four individual scoring chances, and two individual high-danger chances for him in his debut. I definitely think he did enough to earn another game.
- The Caps have now lost four games in a row. The only consolation you can take from that is they aren’t the Pittsburgh Penguins who have lost seven in a row. Those two teams matchup later this week on Wednesday in DC.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
