Inconceivably, the Washington Capitals again played a great game, this time against the Vancouver Canucks and at the wrong side of a back-to-back. Unlike last game, it wasn’t enough to secure two standings points.
Nic Dowd scored one minute in, deflecting a great centering pass from Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Connor Garland returned serve with a fast-developing play after a Caps goof in neutral. Alex Ovechkin stayed hot to put the Caps up again, but Nils Hoglander’s pretty goal knotted it 2-2 after two periods, a score which remained after the full sixty minutes.
In overtime, Washington had the better looks but JT Miller scored on a turnover just before the buzzer.
Caps lose 3-2 in overtime.
- This was the single toughest game of the whole season’s schedule: no rest against a team on pace for like 120 points. Even getting a single point out of it is a moral victory.
- After months of miserable puck luck, Alex Ovechkin is lighting it up. He’s got five goals in as many games, this time with a lovely passing sequence made possible by TJ Oshie forcing a turnover in the Canucks’ zone. I’m sure Ovechkin is still miles below his individual expected goals, but he’s narrowing the gap. I’ve rung this bell a bunch of times, but Ovechkin’s offensive rates are off by about 30 percent this season, but his goal scoring was off by about 75 percent – meaning his downfall seemed way worse than it actually was. Ovi will be fine, even given insufficient support from his general manager.
- The rest of the Caps played darn well, despite playing the tiredest they’ll be all season and against a very good Canucks team. The big differences to me were puck retrieval – long shifts in the offensive zone and short ones in the defensive zone. That said, the team made some sloppy mistakes at both blue lines that could hurt them much more than they did.
- I think of poor John Carlson on the Garland goal. Carlson was skating to the bench after a normal shift as the forwards prepared for an entry into the Vancouver zone. But Wilson and Sgarbossa couldn’t pull off a simple dump-and-change, so Carlson had to rush back too late.
- I don’t have anything insightful to say about the Nils Hoglander goal except it was really pretty: backhand elevation to Kuemper’s shortside, made possible by Quinn Hughes, who might be the season’s MVP.
- After Nic Dowd scored that early goal, I saw a lot of people discussing the goal’s impact on the player’s trade value (“stonks!”). They’re not wrong, but inside the context of this game the real value is way more immediate. That’s a player on your preferred team scoring a goal while goals are hard to come by. It’s fine and cool to think about what it means from a bird’s eye view too, but let’s don’t spoil the moment for ourselves with the business stuff.
- I’ve got nothing to call out in particular, but Ethan Bear got clobbered in shot attempts. Something is up there.
- Unlucky turnover in overtime by Connor McMichael, who had two scoring chances in the extra time.
- When I was a teenager, Usher’s My Way was a big album. “Nice and Slow” was, uh, eye-opening for a boy my age. Even if I don’t watch the rest of the thing, I’ll watch the halftime performance.
- Yeah, I don’t watch football, but I’d put the chances that the Chiefs win AND Travis Kelce proposing to Taylor Swift at one in five.
Two boys in blue #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/5rkqH20NH4
— RMNB (@rmnb) February 11, 2024
Here’s something Emily Kaplan reported yesterday. Caps GM Brian MacLellan, according to her: “These next three games: [Saturday], [Sunday] against Vancouver, and then against Colorado, will determine what direction we go to in the trade deadline.”
Uh oh. The Capitals won the first one, got a point in the second, and are laser-focused on the third. They’re playing really good hockey against really good teams. They’re playing like they think the season is on the line. And it really isn’t. According to HockeyViz, the Caps went from an 8.5 percent chance of making the playoffs on Friday to a 11 percent chance now.
The team is going to need the day’s rest they’ll have before welcoming the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. If you ask the GM, that game is mega important. I’m not so sure, but I’m eager to watch.
