The Washington Capitals played down to their opposition on Tuesday night and paid the price. The San Jose Sharks came out of Capital One Arena 2-1 victors in overtime after the Capitals never got things going at five-on-five.
At least they grabbed a point even though they didn’t deserve one. This one was not good.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-12-03:#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/j9rNbqTKDb
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) December 4, 2024
- The Capitals struggled five-on-five against a team that you should not struggle five-on-five against. Washington created just three five-on-five high-danger chances in the second and third period combined and gave up 11 to San Jose. They recorded just 12 five-on-five shot attempts in the third period. Simply, not good enough.
- Despite being one of the worst teams in the NHL in recent years, the Sharks are 3-1 in their last four visits to Capital One Arena. The Capitals need to return this year’s favor in California later this season.
- This one was definitely not Jakob Chychrun’s best game with the Caps. With Chychrun on the ice at five-on-five, the team held negative differentials in shot attempts (-6), scoring chances (-9), and high-danger chances (-7). He never seemed to get a good handle on the puck the entire night.
Nic Dowd scores his seventh goal of the season to tie the game 1-1. Dowd, who has scored two goals in his last three games, is one of seven Capitals with seven or more goals this season.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 4, 2024
- Ivan Miroshnichenko recorded an assist on Nic Dowd’s goal and now has four points (1g, 3a) in six games this season. Per Capitals PR, Miro’s three-game point and assist streaks are both career highs. I wonder if we may see the young Russian moved back up the lineup after he’s seemingly now settled in the NHL during this stint.
- Logan Thompson stopped 29 of 31 shots and was the only reason the Capitals earned a point in the standings. Per MoneyPuck, he saved 1.57 more goals than expected.
- The recently hot power play went 0-for-3 and it was a frustrating watch. I know they’ve been shooting pretty hot lately but I am still not a big fan of John Carlson in Ovi’s spot.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
