The Washington Capitals have lost three games in a row and are on the verge of taking zero points from a four-game road trip before the All-Star break. This latest loss to the Colorado Avalanche wasn’t even close as they fell 6-2 inside Ball Arena.
That was demoralizing to watch. A true contender feasting on whatever the Capitals are.
- The Capitals have had worse games when it comes to both the final scoreline and the five-on-five stats after the end of regulation but this one still felt like a special kind of bad though. As I said in the intro, this game felt like a playoff pretender running into a Stanley Cup favorite. The Capitals have now given up six goals in a game five times already this season and four or more goals 17 times. If this trip was meant to help answer questions about the upcoming trade deadline, I think general manager Brian MacLellan may have a headstart on finding that answer.
- Nathan MacKinnon provided most of the damage done to the Capitals. The uber-talented center scored four goals and added an assist to give him nine points (6g, 3a) over his last two games. He is the first player to have two, four-goal games in a season since…Alex Ovechkin did so during the 2007-08 campaign. Ovechkin scored 65 goals that year.
- Ovechkin has now gone eight games without a goal. If he doesn’t score against the Dallas Stars on Saturday, it’ll be the second time this season that he’s gone without a marker for that long. Before this season, he had only done that three other times over the rest of his career. Panic button definitely pushed.
Dylan Strome, who is playing in his 400th career game tonight, scores his 17th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 4-1. Since joining Washington ahead of the 2022-23 season, Strome ranks 1st on the Capitals in GP (127) & assists (54) and 2nd in goals (40) & points (94).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 25, 2024
- Dylan Strome remains one of the lone bright spots for the Capitals offensively this season. Strome tallied both of the team’s goals in the loss and now has 18 on the season. The 26-year-old centerman is the only Capitals forward to play in all 46 games to this point and is on pace for a 32-goal year.
- I know I’m going to annoy some of you by talking about selling at the deadline already but I think it’s wise to start looking at that even if the Capitals dig themselves out of this rut. The “rental” names on their roster (UFAs this summer) include Anthony Mantha, Max Pacioretty, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Joel Edmundson. Teams will surely be calling on Nic Dowd and Charlie Lindgren as well. There could be a real draft pick haul in the team’s future if they move a handful of those names.
- Even with their recent skid, the Capitals are still just three points out of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. They currently sit sixth in the Metropolitan Division but are very close to sliding to seventh with the Pittsburgh Penguins just two points back of them with two games in hand.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
