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Caps all over the place in messy defeat to cross-conference St. Louis: Blues beat Caps 5-2

By Chris Cerullo

 3 Comments

March 17, 2023 9:30 pm

The St. Louis Blues were in town on Friday night and it was an “important” game according to Caps head coach Peter Laviolette. Would his players respond to the occasion?

Sammy Blais struck very early on to give St. Louis a first-period lead. Jordan Kyrou doubled that lead on a breakaway. Kasperi Kapenen and Blais added two more in the second to make it four for the visitors.

Martin Fehervary finished off a pretty pass from Alex Alexeyev to get the Caps on the board. Nicklas Backstrom doubled the Caps total very late in the third. Brayden Schenn empty netter.

Blues beat Caps 5-2.

  • The Capitals have given up a goal on the first shot they have faced in three straight games. If that’s not a franchise record it has to be close. That is as bizarre as I think it is, right?
  • Jakub Vrana was in town again. Jake is riding a hot streak to start his time with the Blues, scoring four goals in his first five games with them. Really awesome to see. I hope he continues tearing it up.
  • Joel Hofer, the older brother of Caps prospect Ryan Hofer made his first start of the season for the Blues. He was pretty excellent.

  • A whole bunch of defensive meltdowns and lazy passes later and the Caps were down 4-0 after forty minutes. Darcy Kuemper wasn’t even bad. He was just left out to dry by a team that looks amateur in their own zone right now.
  • That was most summed up by Evgeny Kuznetsov throwing a blind pass straight through the middle of his own zone directly to an opposing player with about five seconds left in the period. Just baffling stuff like that all over the place.
  • Rasmus Sandin and Trevor van Riemsdyk were on the ice for another three goals against. I still adore both players but maybe they need some time away from each other or some of their ice time needs to be dispersed better. Because goodness gracious.
  • Sammy Blais had four goals in 56 games this season before rattling off two more in this game. Not great.

  • The Caps had the puck for like the whole third period but a four-goal hole proved too much.
  • Love that pass from Alex Alexeyev to Martin Fehervary. In my opinion, Alexeyev has only gotten better with consistent game action.
  • Oh my goodness, Fairleigh Dickinson. I hope you are not also a Purdue fan on this night.

The Caps have another Central Division team on the schedule next. They’ll be on the road for that one though as they’ll trek up to Minnesota to see old pal Marcus Johansson and the Wild.

Headline photo courtesy of kurly

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