The Washington Capitals met Macklin Celebrini for the first time on Tuesday night, hosting the San Jose Sharks to DC for a rare visit.
Tyler Toffoli owned the lone goal of the first period, using Rasmus Sandin as a screen as he ripped a fine shot from the high slot. Nic Dowd drew it even in the second period, taking a pretty pass from Martin Fehervary on a set play. We didn’t get a decision in regulation, but William Eklund converted a power play not long into overtime.
Caps lose.
- I stole the headline from Alex from #crashers. Thank you, Alex, for being funny and beta testing and coming up with this headline. Sorry for stealing from you.
- There was a kind of background radiation throughout the game, a vague feeling that you are not safe, that you are in a Trap Game. I tried making a picture of Macklin Celebrini where he looked like Josh Hartnett in the poster for the movie Trap, but a) no one but me and Aileen saw that movie, b) I didn’t have time because I was watching the game, and c) I don’t actually know how to do it.
- After three high-scoring games in a row, we were due for a little letdown. And it’s not that the Caps were terrible at creating chances; they weren’t. It’s just that San Jose goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was dialed in.
#ALLCAPS darn pic.twitter.com/uGU9ZlgegO
— x – Capitals Replays 🍁 (@capsreplays) December 4, 2024
- Luckily, so too was Logan Thompson. I don’t put anything against him here.
- Lars Eller drew a tripping call from Alex Wennberg in the second period. I remarked that he’s been very good at drawing penalties since coming to the Caps, and that’s true, but then he took that trip in the third. So what do I know. Nothing.
- From the Live Water out-of-town scoreboard: ex-Caps Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Beck Malenstyn combined for a pretty goal as part of Buffalo’s four-goal first period against Colorado. Buffalo blew that lead, by the way.
- Jakob Chychrun led the team in shots attempted, but he also had the most trouble in his own end. He had a stick broken in the third period that was nearly decisive.
- Late in regulation, Tom Wilson high-sticked Macklin Celebrini, drawing blood. The latter is the league’s golden child and the former is maybe the most improved player in the entire NHL this season but whose past haunts him, like Aragorn in that horny Cronenberg movie. I think it was an accident by Wilson, but boy was that unfortunate. Cost the game, even if the Caps didn’t deserve to win it in the first place.
- Things that did not happen: Nic Dowd did not commit an agonizing penalty. Dylan Strome did not lose a tooth. The Caps did not win.
our boys thrive in winter colors #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/T3Ewgd2qz9
— RMNB (@rmnb) December 4, 2024
Pride Night. I wrote this last year, and I don’t think I can improve on it:
It was Pride Night at Capital One Arena. Pride is necessary because in the past its absence meant shame and oppression and death. In an imaginary universe where history didn’t happen, then maybe all that would be asked of you is benign indifference when the people around you live actualized lives, but that’s not the world we live in. So we say be yourself, and we celebrate the people around us for whom doing that requires bravery. I wish it didn’t, and maybe one day it won’t. This is how we get there. 🏳️🌈
I don’t think that was a very good hockey game, and not because the Caps didn’t score a ton of goals. Across all four lines and three defensive pairings, the Caps let the Sharks cruise through neutral without enough pressure. Maybe I’m spoiled at this point, but it’s unacceptable to me if San Jose is dictating the pace of play for Washington.
See you Friday night in Toronto. That’ll be a big one.
