The Washington Capitals almost pulled out two wins over the NHL’s top two teams in back-to-back days. The Vancouver Canucks proved to be a tougher test than the Boston Bruins down the stretch and eked out a fortunate 3-2 overtime win to extend their lead at the top of the league.
These were probably the best two games in a row the Capitals have played all season.
- The Capitals were at their best defensively yet again in this game, limiting the high-powered Canucks to just five high-danger chances at five-on-five. Unlike in Boston, they also created a bunch of their own offense with 12 five-on-five high-danger chances but, as usual, this year, just couldn’t find the finish needed to end this game in regulation. Good to see this sort of fight but they need to rattle off a whole bunch of wins in a row to get fully back into things.
- Alex Ovechkin scored again to give him goals in five straight games and 16 points (7g, 9a) in his last 15 games. Bit brutal that he didn’t get a single shift in overtime given how hot he has been lately. The Great Eight is now just 59 goals away from Wayne Gretzky and is back on pace to score over 20 times this season. There’s a good chance that he ends the year just 50 away from the record.
- Darcy Kuemper ended up with 28 stops in the loss. Kuemper’s last win came almost exactly a month ago, a 2-0 shutout of the Anaheim Ducks on January 16. MoneyPuck says he stopped a full goal less than expected in Sunday’s loss and one goal turned out to be the difference. Can’t blame him for that OT winner though.
Alex Ovechkin put the @Capitals up 2-1 and recorded his first five-game goal streak since March 11-19, 2021.#NHLStats: https://t.co/LNqxKidbZW pic.twitter.com/GqpdyPxQez
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 11, 2024
- It’s a shame how the game ended for Connor McMichael because his line was the team’s best the entire game. With them on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals out-attempted Vancouver 16-5, out-scoring chanced them 8-1, and out-high danger chanced them 5-0.
- Rasmus Sandin was back on the scoresheet again, grabbing the secondary assist on Nic Dowd’s early strike. He now has seven points (2g, 5a) in his last nine games. I think it’s important that the team finds him a stable partner over the offseason because I don’t think that currently exists on the roster.
- With 31 games remaining, the Capitals sit 12th in the Eastern Conference by points percentage. I don’t get the feeling that the team is ready to fold on this season just yet. Before these past two games, I was 100 percent of the belief that they should quickly take advantage of the shallow trade market. Now, I’m probably at 80 percent, and give it another week or so. What say you all?
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
