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Fine! Devils beat Caps 3-2 in shootout

By Peter Hassett

 4 Comments

March 9, 2023 9:54 pm

The Washington Capitals played the fearsome New Jersey Devils, and – honestly – they did fine! Invigorating feeling. Fine hockey from your Washington Capitals. Washington: home of fine hockey.

Late in the first period, Trevor van Riemsdyk scored a pinball-style goal. Erik Haula scored a power-play goal in the second by banking off Alexander Alexeyev, who got de-pantsed a bit on Dawson Mercer’s goal 90 seconds later. Dylan Strome crashed the net to turn Tom Wilson’s lucky bounce into the tying goal after forty minutes. A scoreless third pushed us into overtime, which was fun but fruitless.

Shootout bullets!

  • Oshie did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Hughes did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Kuznetsov did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Bratt did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Backstrom did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Hischier did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Ovechkin did NOT put the biscuit in the basket
  • Meier put the biscuit in the basket

Caps lose 3-2 in the shootout.

  •  The Devils are a fast team, and the Capitals are not. That said, I thought the home team did a respectable job battling for control. New Jersey certainly had the edge in speed and danger, but I thought Washington looked far better in this game than they did at any point during the west-coast trip. They had some trouble getting into the Devils’ zone in the third, but overall– not bad!
  • Early in the second period, Evgeny Kuznetsov got whistled for goalie interference. He’s committed penalties in the offensive zone twice in the last two games. I’d say that’s more evidence that he’s “unplayable,” but here comes the next bullet…
  • Kuznetsov’s line with Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson was Washington’s best, despite my pessimistic attitude. Not bad!
  • I did not like the performances of the Caps’ younger players tonight, but I am going to limit my Complains/60. Alexander Alexeyev certainly had an unfortunate evening, getting burned for two goals in two minutes, especially when red-hot Dawson Mercer evaded him.

  • Like I said, I’m struggling with my tone here. I don’t want to doompost Caps games for the next month, and I know you don’t want to read doomposting for the next month. There’s stuff that the Caps are doing well – their uniforms are very clean for example – and I just need to keep the positive stuff in perspective. So yes: this was one of the team’s better-played games in the last month.
  • Like, consider all the headwinds. The team’s defensive pairings were Sandin/TvR, Alexeyev/Iorio, and Irwin/Carlsson. It’s not guaranteed that the Caps have more than two NHL-quality defenders in that group; before last year TvR was considered a seventh D. There were supposed to be Carlsons (one S) and Orlovs and Jensens and Gustafssons in there. So considering the roster disadvantage, Washington’s effort tonight looks even better. Fine!
  • Rasmus Sandin has been such a delight. He and TvR were wonderful together. Sandin got more than 30 minutes of ice time, which I think is a mild indictment of the other pairings.
  • I still harbor a fantasy where the Caps scheme their way into acquiring Jesper Bratt this summer. He’s an RFA, and there were rumors last summer of unease in his relationship with the team. He’d do a lot for Washington on a second line. I’ll keep dreaming.
  • Jersey started Akira Schmid in net. He has a very cool name (Akira has to be in your top-10 anime list), but they’re still cowards for not putting Vitek Vanecek in.
  • At the other end of the ice, another strong performance from Darcy Kuemper, who made 38 saves. DK is always a cool customer, even when the Devils were surging like they did in the second and late in the third.

Actually, I’m doing my top-10 anime right here. In no particular order:

  • Cowboy Bebop
  • Akira
  • My Neighbor Totoro
  • Princess Mononoke
  • Ghost in the Shell
  • Robotech
  • Attack on Titan
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion
  • Grave of the Fireflies
  • Princess Kaguya

Most of those are about death, depression, and disassociation. That’s my bag. Ghibli makes up half of the list. Those are the all-time greats, unless you grew up on shonen stuff, which is fine, you do you.

Anyway. Decent game. The Caps will see the Devils one more time: game 82, the last game of the season, unless you’re the Devils.

Headline photo: kurly

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