The Washington Capitals talked the talk about Friday night being a big game and then walked the walk to back it up. Well, if you just forget about the entire first period.
The two points likely postpone a more sizable trade deadline sell-off. Is that advisable, in my opinion? No, not at all.
- I’ll just cut to the chase. Peter pretty much covered this in his recap of the win but I’ll just restate the facts for anyone who missed them. This game and win have been presented as pivotal for the team’s playoff aspirations. According to HockeyViz, those two points only jumped them from a 15 percent chance to make the playoffs to a 20 percent chance. If the front office of the team believes that’s enough to postpone selling off upcoming UFA pieces at the deadline for future assets, I’m going to be a pretty unhappy camper in a week. Unfortunately, there has been recent talk from insiders that makes me believe the strategy actually may be impacted by one or two wins.
- I know talk like this does upset some people because it can come off like I’m rooting for the team to lose but that’s not how I see it. I’m rooting for the team to win consistently again in 2-3 years and recouping assets for aging veterans is how you increase the chance of that happening. Ryan Leonard scored two goals for Boston College on Friday night to give him 25 total on the season as a freshman. There are two players in the entirety of the NCAA with more goals than him this season. The Capitals were able to draft Leonard because Brian MacLellan did what he had to do last year.
- However, none of the talk in the above two bullets takes away from what was a super fun win to watch. Capital One Arena was louder and more engaged for that game than probably any other this season. The Capitals used a dominant second period where they recorded six high-danger chances at five-on-five and scored three goals to take the lead. Wins like that one give me even more confidence that Spencer Carbery will be a dominant coach in the NHL once he is given more pieces that suit his style.
Tonight marks the first time the Capitals have scored five unanswered goals in a game since March 23, 2023 vs. Chicago.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 2, 2024
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 17th goal of the season and the 839th of his career. The Great Eight cooled off a bit at the end of February but still has nine goals in his last 13 games.
- Hendrix Lapierre grabbed an assist on Ovi’s marker and added another assist on John Carlson’s goal. The rookie center now has six points (3g, 3a) in his last four NHL games.
- Three points for Dylan Strome as he now has 46 (22g, 24a) from 59 games this season. Strome is on pace for his second-straight 60-point season.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
