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Back-to-back afternoon games prove too much for veteran Caps: numbers for the morning after

By Chris Cerullo

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February 13, 2023 6:12 am

The Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks did battle on Super Bowl Sunday and the Sharks came out rather easy 4-1 victors.

The Caps played more like the Commanders than the Chiefs or Eagles.

  • I don’t want to put all the blame on scheduling but I feel like having a team play a two-afternoon game, back-to-back with travel against another team that had multiple days off is a bit of a poor decision. The Caps just never showed up for this one. If you look at the individual periods of the game, I don’t think you can say they “won” any of the three. They finished the game at five-on-five out-attempted by San Jose 57 to 38, out-scoring chanced 33 to 17, and out-high danger chanced 16 to 9.
  • The power play is still an issue as it went 0-for-3 in this one. It feels like it has been a serious issue for forever now and yet not a whole lot has been done. Since the calendar flipped into 2023, the Caps are operating at just 15 percent effectiveness on their man advantage. That is good for 26th best in the NHL.
  • Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his eighth goal of the season and it was the only goal the Caps would score. Kuzy is on pace for just 12 goals this season which would be his weakest output over a full season since his true rookie season in 2014-15 where he potted just 11.

  • You know it’s going to be a poor night for the Caps when Alex Ovechkin only records four total shot attempts and one shot on goal. It never seemed like The Great Eight could get free at even strength.
  • Speaking of Ovi, head coach Peter Laviolette changed up his line during the game. He was removed from Dylan Strome and Nicolas Aube-Kubel and put with Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson. That move did not work at all. They were out-attempted 11 to 3 and out-scoring chanced 8 to 2. I’m of the opinion that Ovi and Kuzy just do not work together at this stage of their careers.
  • The Sharks absolutely own the Caps in DC. Since the start of the 2000s, San Jose has a 15-3 record in those games.

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

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