The Washington Capitals have never won a regular season game inside T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights proved to be too much for them again on Saturday night, cruising to a 4-1 victory in regulation.
The Capitals had a lot of the puck but not in enough dangerous areas. Scoring is still an issue.
- The second period was the Capitals’ downfall in the game. Spencer Carbery highlighted it in his postgame presser and he’s definitely not wrong. In that twenty minutes, the Golden Knights out-attempted the Caps 32 to 10, out-scoring chanced them 12 to 5, and out-high danger chanced them 6 to 2. Overall, the Capitals just could not create enough offense with the puck possession they did get, managing just three high-danger chances in the third at five-on-five despite pushing to get back into the game.
- Bit of a broken record at this point but the Capitals were at their worst with Evgeny Kuznetsov on the ice at five-on-five. In that 11:22 of ice time, they saw negative differentials in shot attempts (-10), scoring chances (-7), and high-danger chances (-1). Don’t ask me what the solution is there. I don’t have one that doesn’t involve a new team.
- They weren’t much better with Rasmus Sandin out there either. Seven high-danger chances for Vegas at five-on-five with him out there and just one for the Capitals. I don’t think the Capitals have a defense partner that really works with Sandin on their current roster. I am of the overall opinion that literally none of the defensemen on team really fit together which is why the pairings get shuffled around so much.
Wilson is now tied with Dylan Strome (8g) for the team lead in goals.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 3, 2023
- Darcy Kuemper stopped 32 shots in the loss and I thought he was pretty solid overall. I think he’d want that first goal back but otherwise can’t really fault him for a ton. He stopped almost a full goal more than expected which somewhat kept the Capitals in the game until they gave up that empty netter.
- No goals for Alex Ovechkin in six-straight games now. Just one shot on goal from him in this game. Let’s hope Carbery gives him a run of games with Dylan Strome so they can find some of that chemistry they had earlier in the year.
- The Hershey Bears have won nine games in a row in the AHL and are a league leading 18-4 to start their Cup-defending campaign. Ethen Frank grabbed a hat trick in their win over the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday and Clay Stevenson won back-to-back starts on back-to-back nights.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
