The Washington Capitals had a chance to put a dent in the Florida Panthers’ playoff hopes on Saturday and balked at the opportunity. The 4-2 loss changed nothing in the Eastern Conference wild-card postseason picture which is bad news for Pittsburgh Penguins fans.
Great news for the rest of humanity though.
- Well, the Caps have lost six in a row and that is truly what is best for them at this point. This one all fell apart in the third period as the Panthers did what a team fighting for every inch in a race for the playoffs does. In that final frame, Florida out-attempted the Caps 31 to 6, out-scoring chanced them 22 to 1, and out-high danger chanced them 10 to 0. It would have been an absolute travesty if they didn’t find a goal.
- The good news is that the Caps have now clinched a premium spot in the NHL’s draft lottery with the loss and some other results around the league. The Caps now cannot finish better than 11th worst in the league which means if their ball is picked out of the lottery machine they will get the chance to select Connor Bedard first overall.
- Dylan Strome still managed to find another goal and now has one in three-straight games. That streak is tied for the longest of his career.
Tom Wilson scores his 10th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2. It marks Wilson's second point of the game (1g, 1a) and his sixth multi-point game of the season.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 9, 2023
- The Caps got positively destroyed with Martin Fehervary on the ice at five-on-five. In those minutes, the team held negative differentials in shot attempts (-17), scoring chances (-11), and high-danger chances (-7). They were also scored on twice.
- Without Alex Ovechkin in the lineup this season, the Caps are now 0-7 and have been outscored 31 to 14 in those seven losses.
- Some more good news for the future happened on Saturday as prospect Hendrix Lapierre recorded his first career professional hat trick with the Hershey Bears. Lappy now has five points in his last four games after a very dry February and March.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
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