The Washington Capitals got their butts absolutely handed to them by the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night. There really isn’t much more to say other than that.
Logan Cooley and Michael Carcone and Nick Schmaltz and Nick Schmaltz and Jason Zucker all scored goals in the first period to make it 5-0 after just one frame. Nick Bjugstad put away a shorthanded marker for the touchdown.
Coyotes beat Capitals 6-0.
- I’m not the full bearer of bad news because you’ve likely been hearing some of this or already knew it, but a game like this was coming for the Capitals. They simply are playing atrocious hockey at five-on-five this season and only really staying in games due to their goaltending. Their goaltending didn’t stop anything in that first period so they were down 5-0 after 20 minutes. Easy math.
- Look, folks, I don’t know what to say about Darcy Kuemper. Sure, a couple of those goals came via either ridiculous passing or maybe a friendly-fire deflection, but it seems like a lot of having to make those sort of excuses for him this season. I used to do that a lot for Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov too. And, we know how that story ended. Not like Charlie Lindgren fared much better though so I’ll give Kuemper another break…for now.
- How about the Capitals give Riley Sutter a recall and a few games on the fourth line? I’ll take whatever gets Nicolas Aube-Kubel out of the lineup. All he seems to do is take penalties and be a warm body on the ice. He was directly at fault for the Coyotes’ fifth goal. That fourth line has been struggling hard and really needs a refresh.
This was resting inside the media entrance at Mullett: 🤔 pic.twitter.com/vCywVTs1sB
— Craig Morgan (@CraigSMorgan) December 5, 2023
- The second period was almost just as embarrassing as the first as even though the Capitals only let one goal in this time, it was clear they had given up at the intermission. Just absolutely zero fire or desire to get one back. Hard to watch.
- The Coyotes getting a 2-on-0 with the Capitals on a power play and scoring on it has to be a season low. That is just so thoroughly unacceptable and not something you should see in an NHL team. More players than just Evgeny Kuznetsov need to be facing the music after this game. Also, I am again asking for a Kirk Muller job review. Already.
- Some might call this an overreaction as it’s the end of a long road trip but this really feels like a game where the general manager needs to respond. I’m not saying through drastic trades…yet…but at least via recalls of players that have been absolutely destroying the AHL with the 18-4 Hershey Bears. Names like Riley Sutter, Hunter Shepard, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Pierrick Dube, Joe Snively, Ethen Frank, etc. Time for some wake up calls. All I’m saying.
- Aliaksei Protas had to make a trip to the locker room after blocking a shot. He eventually came back but it’s clear that it dinged him up pretty good. Protas is still the team’s top five-on-five point scorer with eight points (2g, 6a) which is great for him but also reflects terribly on the team as a whole.
Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube: https://t.co/T0QOBDHwBe
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) December 4, 2023
- Nothing happened in the third as is tradition with games like these. Arizona kinda broke an unwritten rule by sending their number one power play unit out there with the score 6-0. If you don’t like that though, don’t go down 6-0.
- No goals for Alex Ovechkin now in seven games.
- At least it isn’t that embarrassing to lose like this to the Coyotes at this point. Turns out being so bad for so long can only last so long. They’ve finally rebuilt well.
Last one out west #JoeBSuitOfTheNight pic.twitter.com/b27xzId0gj
— RMNB (@rmnb) December 5, 2023
The Capitals went 2-3 on this western road trip. Not great. They’ll get back to work at home on Thursday against the Dallas Stars.
Headline photo courtesy of @baxter_14/X
