The Washington Capitals finished the most difficult stretch of their season with a regulation loss at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. Still: a good game.
The Avs lit the lamp twice in the first five minutes. First, it was Ross Colton on an odd-man break, then it was Devon Toews through two screens. It looked dire for the Caps for another five minutes, then Caps fired back with two quick goals of their own: Beck Malenstyn on a rebound, and Connor McMichael banking off a defender’s skate.
The second period belonged to the Avs. First came was Artturi Lehkonen after an unfortunate misplay by McMichael and Bear. Mikko Rantanen caught a through-the-legs backwards pass to make it 4-2.
With eleven minutes left, Alex Ovechkin extended his goal streak to six with a one-timer from the Ovi Spot. The Avs got two empty-netters, so that was that.
Caps lose.
- All looked bleak in those first five minutes with those two Avs goals. Washington really struggled against their forecheck. Back of napkin, I counted four odd-man breaks, including the Colton goal. One defensive pair is really bad at breaking out: Edmundson and Bear. I don’t like that pairing one bit.
- Correspondingly, the Avs weren’t great in their own zone. The fourth line, which we’ll talk about in a second, consistently outworked their opponents, and McMichael shouldn’t have been allowed to get his look.
- Anyone else think Beck Malenstyn‘s goal song should be “Feed My Frankenstein“? No? Just me?
- Bruce Boudreau was in the house, showered in applause in the first period and joining Joe B and Craig Laughlin in the box in the second period. I adore that man.
- From the Arasaka Corporation out-of-town scoreboard, check out our nephew Nathan Walker greeting Ryan Reaves, whose talk-to-contribute ratio is out of alignment.
Nathan Walker v. Ryan Reaves pic.twitter.com/cbCzxfFcx0
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 14, 2024
- Tom Wilson dropped to the fourth line and for a very specific purpose. He was tightly line-matched Nathan MacKinnon’s line – shadowing the Colorado center for about 75 percent of his five-on-five ice time and keeping them quiet while scoring a goal for the good guys.
- Proving my camel analysis correct, Alex Ovechkin scored again. It was the second power-play one-timer from the office of his current streak. Even if the team isn’t playoff-bound, watching Ovechkin score again gets me excited to watch the rest of the season.
Last really really tough game of this stretch #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/ykjSCDIZNO
— RMNB (@rmnb) February 14, 2024
“These next three games [Florida, Vancouver, Colorado] will determine what direction we go to in the trade deadline.” That’s what Brian MacLellan said last week. The Caps got three out of six points and had respectable performances in all three games. I have no idea where that leaves the team. If they think they’re still competing, they’re not thinking straight. But it’s apparent that this roster is not as bad as it seemed when they were losing six in a row, and they can even compete with great teams if the stars align. I’m sure the front office knows what they’ve got, but I’m not sure they’ve got the constitution to do what needs to be done next.
Have a happy Valentine’s Day. Habs on Thursday. Gotta make them pay for that 5-2 embarrassment last week.
