The Washington Capitals took on the road-weary Los Angeles Kings for a Sunday afternoon date, except it’s December 22 so it was pitch black outside before the puck even dropped. It was a good game, and the deciding factor was just a couple blue-line beef-ups.
A broken Kings stick along the blue line gave Aliaksei Protas the opportunity for his first goal, the lone goal of the first period. In the second, a series of Caps mistakes gave Kevin Fiala a power-play goal. But Jakub Vrana got on the board after the Kings failed to clear due to a obstructing linesman.
The third period was tight but Washington held on until Protas scored his second of the night – this time against an empty net.
Caps win!
- These are two very good teams, so to score today meant the other team had to get unlucky. The Kings were cursed at zone exits, blowing one due to McMichael’s forechecking and a broken stick and the other due to whatever linesman’s rear end got in the way of a clearing pass.
- And on Washington’s side, it was a few minor gaffes all stacked up:
- One of the most entertaining angles on the season, for me, a known sicko, is Ian getting mentally unravelled whenever someone says “Dubois for Selke.” Former King Pierre-Luc Dubois got two big, primary assists against his old team, which includes legendary Selke winner Anze Kopitar, one of my favorites. When you think about a “complete” player, you start with him.
- Not even remotely a complete player is Jakub Vrana, who scored his second goal in as many games. Get him the puck with any amount of space and any view of the net and that’s a scoring chance.
- And yet Vrana on the third line still played less than Ivan Miroshnichenko, who plays on the fourth line and got benched for most of the second period after the icing we talked about above. Miro came very close to scoring in this one, but he couldn’t elevate. He’s without a point since December 3 and without a goal since his first on November 25.
- I’m sure Chris will mention this tomorrow morning, but Vrana and Lapierre at five-on-five play were unacceptably bad – I think I saw them in the offensive zone on one shift. I know we’ve got a roster freeze, but I wonder how much longer the Caps are going to tolerate this.
- Ex-Caps goalie Darcy Kuemper backed up David Rittich. I had really hoped Darcy would see the ice, but that was never likely given these two teams. Now here’s a ridiculously zoomed-in photo of DK that Ian wanted me to use:
- Just throwing it out there that Kuemper saved 11 goals better than expected during his time in Washington. Ho hum. I liked him.
- Lorge Cap Aliaksei Protas has three goals in two games and hits 14 on the season. If you say you saw that coming in October, I’m going to slap you in the face and I’ll get away with it due to jury nullification. Are you familiar with jury nullification?
The sun is still up for a few more minutes and we're about to play hockey #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/UULDlN3jkO
— RMNB (@rmnb) December 22, 2024
A tight but competent game by both teams. I feel like these guys could go at each other all 82 times in a season and split it 41-41. The winner is just whoever gets the bounces – off an official’s butt for example.
This is my last recap before Christmas, so I’ve gotta do this to you. Here comes the authoritative, not-up-for-debate Christmas song ranking.
It goes:
- S-tier: Have Yourself, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, The Christmas Song, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
- A-tier: Sleigh Ride, Little Drummer Boy, Jingle Bells, Do You Hear What I Hear?, The First Noel, Silent Night, Mele Kalikimaka, Wonderful Christmastime, We Three Kings, Santa Claus is Coming to Town
- B-tier: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Favorite Things, Blue Christmas, Jingle Bell Rock, Silver Bells, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Linus and Lucy
- C-tier: Let It Snow, Here Comes Santa Claus, Home for the Holidays, Last Christmas, I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus, Deck the Halls, Holly Jolly Christmas
- D-tier: Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch, Joy to the World, Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer, Feliz Navidad
- F-tier: Santa Baby, Baby It’s Cold Outside, Little Saint Nick, Dominick the Donkey, Twelve Days of Christmas, Oh Christmas Tree, Auld Lang Syne, and Do They Know It’s Christmas?
In lieu of gifts I will be accepting your unreserved agreement in the comments.
The Caps will wrap up their pre-Christmas schedule with a roadie in Boston tomorrow night. I’ll be with family. So until next time, I hope we can all face unafraid the plans that we made.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
