The Washington Capitals hosted the St. Louis Blues on Friday night and did not lead a single time in the game after allowing a goal on St. Louis’ first shot of the contest. The Blues left eventual 5-2 victors as the Caps once again struggled to defend their net.

The stats are probably going to flatter the Caps a bit but the overall performance was not good.

• I said the stats would probably flatter the Caps because they did really control the whole third period but by that time they had already dug themselves a 4-0 hole and it’s rather tough to climb out of a big deficit like that in the NHL. A lot of their missteps in this game were also individual errors that were almost immediately punished. Those momentary gaffes can be hard to quantify. The Blues winning the game with five goals on just 22 shots should hint at that when you consider that I don’t think Darcy Kuemper was ever prominently at fault for any of those goals.
• I do not love Rasmus Sandin and Trevor van Riemsdyk being on the ice for another three goals against at five-on-five. I think both players are great but as I said in the recap, maybe it’s time to split them up for a little once Nick Jensen is healthy?
• One defense pair that was incredibly good in the game at five-on-five was made up of youngsters Alex Alexeyev and Martin Fehervary. With Alexeyev on the ice at five-on-five in a team-leading 21:01 of ice time, the Caps saw positive differentials in shot attempts (+14), scoring chances (+5), and high-danger chances (+1). In our now regular check-up on where Alexeyev started most of his shifts, he started exactly zero shifts in the offensive zone. Interesting yet again.

Sonny Milano recorded the secondary assist on Fehervary's goal. It marks Milano's 20th assist of the season, which ties a single-season career high (2021-22: 20a).

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 18, 2023

• Pretty great night for rookie Joel Hofer in the St. Louis cage. MoneyPuck had him stopping 0.8 more goals than expected in his second NHL victory. He ended up making 32 total stops.
• For the record, MoneyPuck very much disagrees with my earlier Darcy Kuemper take. They say that Darcy was at a minus-2.65 when it comes to goals saved above expected in his 17-save effort. What do you guys think?
• The Capitals’ max possible points this season is now down to 97. Feels like it’s been past time for curtains.

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