The Washington Capitals have lost five in a row after they finally broke against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night under the weight of about 1,000 shot attempts. The Capitals have had one of their poorest stretches of the season during quite possibly the worst time they could do so.
This one really wasn’t as close as the final score indicated but you already knew that.
- I mean, unfortunately, we have to go through some numbers here but there’s going to be some silver lining for you at the end. At five-on-five, Carolina out-attempted the Capitals 73-26 and out-chanced them 30-14. What that means is the Capitals basically didn’t touch the puck for about three-quarters of that game which is probably what it would be like to watch an AHL team play a good NHL team. However, as you can see by the above heat map, the Hurricanes didn’t really do a ton with all of that possession. The high-danger chances at five-on-five actually ended just 11-7 in favor of Carolina. The Capitals got absolutely smothered out of the game but they weren’t caved in. At the end of the day, they were just two minutes away from securing at least a point.
- Alex Ovechkin also scored two more goals so who really won? All of us. Ovi is now just one goal away from hitting 30 this season which felt like an impossibility before the Capitals’ bye week. Per Capitals PR, he ranks third in the NHL in goals (21) since January 27, trailing only Auston Matthews (24) and Zach Hyman (23). That’s basically like being only behind Matthews because Hyman is just Connor McDavid’s personal backboard.
- Darcy Kuemper also looked good in the loss which isn’t something we’ve been able to say for quite a bit of time. Kuemper made 42 saves, the most he has in any single game with the Capitals.
Trevor van Riemsdyk earned the secondary assist on Ovechkin's goal. It marks van Riemsdyk's 100th career assist. Forty-six of van Riemsdyk's 100 career assists have come with Washington.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 5, 2024
- I, like most of you, absolutely hated the officiating in the third period. You can’t let that trip on Jensen go and then call Sandin for whatever that was just moments later. They got played by Rod Brind’Amour in mind games which is kinda like letting your little brother beat you at a video game after accidentally plugging his controller into the system. Not a great night for the penalty though either as Carolina scored on two of their four opportunities.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov recorded his first career point against the Capitals. Just a secondary assist but still felt incredibly weird.
- The Capitals have just six games remaining on their schedule. The only team in and amongst the playoff race that they still hold a game in hand on is the Philadelphia Flyers. Philly fell out of third in the Metro into the second wild card after they lost to Buffalo which pushed the New York Islanders above them based on points percentage.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
