The Washington Capitals have lost a game outdoors for the first time in franchise history. It wasn’t really a shock because there was a clear level difference between the two teams from the literal second the puck dropped in the 4-1 defeat.
Nosedive city.
- As I said in the intro, the Caps were just never in this game at really any stage of it. At five-on-five they were out-attempted and out-scoring chanced in every period. Overall, at all strengths, they finished with absurdly negative differentials in shot attempts (-40), scoring chances (-22), and high-danger chances (-13). You read all of those correctly. None of that was a typo. Good lord.
- Tom Wilson returned from injury (again) and scored his third goal of the season. That’s where the “positives” from this game stop though.
- Since January 1, the Caps are only scoring 2.47 goals per game. That is good for 27th best in the league. They are giving up 3.26 goals per game which sees them 21st in terms of preventing offense. Doesn’t take a genius to see that math isn’t going to work out.
Sonny Milano recorded his 15th assist of the season on Wilson's goal. Milano's 23 points (8g, 15a) since Nov. 5 ranks tied for fifth on Washington.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 19, 2023
- Nick Jensen‘s stat line from this game is horrendous. I think it’s very clear that both he and Dmitry Orlov are suffering dearly having to cover John Carlson’s minutes while also maintaining their primary shutdown pairing responsibilities. With Jensen on the ice at five-on-five, the Caps were out-attempted 24 to 7, out-scoring chanced 15 to 2, out-high danger chanced 9 to 0, and were scored on twice.
- Matt Irwin played less than ten minutes total in the game. I don’t know why that spot in the lineup isn’t being given to Alex Alexeyev. It 100 percent should be down the stretch now. I really hope that’s the case for a lot of the younger guys coughProtascough.
- Peter wrote a post two days ago that you should probably read before the trade deadline. It includes the fact that the Caps have won in regulation just three times in their last sixteen games.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
