The Washington Capitals lost their scheduled-loss game against the Carolina Hurricanes on a Sunday evening that got dark way too early.
Treacherous villain Dmitry Orlov scored first with a pretty wristshot high to Charlie Lindgren’s glove side. On a long five-on-three power play, Alex Ovechkin took an Ovi shot from the Ovi spot to tie it up. Thirty-three seconds later, Brendan Duhaime gave Washington a lonely lead with a net-crashing goal.
The second period was domination. The bad kind. The kind of domination that doesn’t even have a sick Dimebag solo in it. Martin Necas exploited a bad line change by the Caps to tie the game, and then the monstrous blackguard Dmitry Orlov unleashed a monstrous shot to put Carolina back in the lead.
The third period was more punishment by the Hurricanes, but it didn’t change the scoreboard until Svechnikov got an empty-netter.
Caps lose 4-2.
- The Caps were unrested, traveling, and playing a rested team that has looked very strong to start the season. You didn’t need an Ann Selzer poll to know this was a scheduled loss and maybe the toughest game – based on opponent and rest and travel – until the Caps will host the Oilers in late February. By my reckoning at least. I assure you I have a very annoying spreadsheet dedicated to this topic.
- And yet, the Caps managed to get some good looks in the first period, even if the flow of play was under the Canes’ control. The ice got more uphill as the game grew on, with the Canes literally skating circles around the Caps during one shift in the third..
- It took the Capitals a few tries to realize that maybe they should put Alex Ovechkin on the faceoff dot and feed him one-timers during the power play. They got there in the end.
- Sonny Milano returned to the lineup, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t notice him. He was sitting at seven shifts and five minutes on ice the last time I clocked him, halfway through the third period. What’s going on? Does Spencer really think he’s giving Milano a chance to earn his spot back if he’s giving him Rempe minutes? There has to be something else going on here.
- I don’t like to pin specific goals on goalies too often, and Charlie Lindgren certainly had a difficult workload. I sure wish he had a glove on that first Orlov goal though. I’m glad he didn’t have a glove on the second Orlov goal, as the puck would have blown his hand clean off. That shot was hard. If the Caps were to win this game, it had to have been stolen by Charlie, and that just wasn’t in the cards.
Two periods of stats.#CapsCanes | @SpotHero pic.twitter.com/SXpK1MwyjC
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 3, 2024
- You won’t believe this, but I’m actually an intolerable pedant who can’t let trivial things go without comment. But unrelated to that: the color contrast between the text and background in the Capitals’ infographic above is about 1.3:1. The absolute minimum for text like that should be 4:1. Also, why is the “losing” stat gray? Also, why not just round the faceoff percentage to the whole number? Also, why are the team logos so close to the center but the numbers below them farther out? Also, blocking a lot of shots is contraindication – it means you don’t have the puck enough. Also, why is it so beige; is it a midcentury rancher having an open house next week?
- I had a lot of people in the social media lounge menchies tonight saying they had trouble with their Monumental reception, especially on Verizon. I was watching on Comcast, and it was crystal clear – which it hadn’t reliably been in the first few weeks of the season.
A tough suit for a tough game #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/u9i1QJIm51
— RMNB (@rmnb) November 3, 2024
Expectations were low. We got an Ovi goal. It’s fine.
The Capitals are now on break until after the … well, you know, the thing that’s happening this week. I hope that thing works out for you. And the planet.
