The Washington Capitals traveled down to Tampa Bay to complete their home-and-home set with the Lightning and it did not go well. The Caps were out of the game within the first half of the first period.
Yikes.
- The first bullet in these posts is typically where I try to summarize the game as best as possible. For this one, all you need to know is that the Lightning scored four goals before the Caps even recorded their first shot. That first shot came from Alex Ovechkin with 2:50 left in the first period. Darcy Kuemper already started and left the game before the team in front of him even put the puck anywhere near his counterpart in the other net.
- Really, really poor “night” from Kuemper. In my opinion, this one was actually more on him than the tough-luck loss to the Pens. He let in three goals more than expected in that first period, according to MoneyPuck. I’d like to see Charlie Lindgren given the reins in Florida so Kuemper can reset a bit. However, I still hold really no questions about Kuemper’s ability. He’s a true number one. The entire team was god-awful to start this game.
- The Capitals actually would have been in it toward the end if their power play was operating worth a damn. They went 0-for-6 on the night and are now 0-for-16 over the past three games.
Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded his 354th career assist against Tampa Bay, passing Peter Bondra (353) for the ninth-most assists in franchise history.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 14, 2022
- The Caps have won back-to-back games this season a grand total of two times. The last time coming October 22 and October 24 against the Los Angeles Kings and New Jersey Devils. Yea, that’s not going to work.
- Connor McMichael needs to go to Hershey where the environment is a lot more positive right now (six wins in a row) and he’d play a ton of minutes. He just is not a winger. It’s that simple. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Caps were out-attempted 18 to 6, out-scoring chanced 12 to 4, and out-high danger chanced 4 to 0.
- Speaking of Hershey, Hendrix Lapierre is the new leading scorer for the Bears with ten points from twelve games. The most impressive part about that is he’s doing it while only getting third-line minutes and no top-unit power play time.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
