The Washington Capitals pretty much are in must-win situations for the rest of the season after they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. Nothing seemed to go in their favor in the loss and isn’t that just typical of when they play the Pens?
I’m going to answer that rhetorical question. Yes.
- Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – the Capitals out-attempted the Penguins 28-15, out-scoring chanced them 12-5, and out-high danger chanced them 8-2 in the first period and left the period down two goals. The sheer amount of games like that against Pittsburgh, especially in the playoffs, has shaved a decade off of my life.
- Alex Ovechkin did score a goal though in the 4-1 loss so did they really lose? Yes, they did but you know…you get it. Ovechkin’s third-period strike was career goal number 849 — bringing him to within 45 of Wayne Gretzky for a share of the NHL’s all-time goals record. According to Capitals PR, Ovechkin’s 19 goals since January 27 are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL.
- Ovi did his best to try and single-handedly will the Capitals to a win but just could not buy any puck luck at even strength. He recorded 15 shot attempts, eight shots on goal, 10 individual scoring chances, six individual high-danger chances, a drawn penalty, and six hits.
Hendrix Lapierre earned the secondary assist on Ovechkin's goal, his 12th assist of the season. Lapierre has recorded an assist in back-to-back games and in four of his last five games overall.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 5, 2024
- Another kinda super meh night for Charlie Lindgren when the team really can’t afford him to be anything but spectacular. He made 20 stops on 23 shots against and MoneyPuck says he allowed 1.05 more goals than expected. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 3.27 more goals than expected at the other end.
- Tom Wilson played 20:07 of ice in his return from suspension. The Capitals were pretty excellent with him on the ice at five-on-five, posting positive differentials in shot attempts (+17), scoring chances (+10), and high-danger chances (+4). They didn’t give up a single Penguins high-danger chance with him over the boards. Surely that means the Capitals held a positive goal differential with him out there right? No, -1, because of course.
- The Capitals moved out of a playoff position with the regulation loss as the New York Islanders picked up a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Caps have 82 standings points compared to the Isles’ 83 points. Washington does hold a game in hand on New York.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
