The Washington Capitals put together a great final 40 minutes on the road in Edmonton, but just couldn’t hang on for what would have been a clutch road win. They have up an extra attacker goal and then lost in overtime 6-5 to the Connor McDavids.
The way they blew this one really stung because they probably deserved the two points. Tough.
- I was very close to pulling my hair out watching the first period until the Capitals decided to come alive with like 30 seconds remaining in the frame. After that, though, I really, really loved the effort they put together. At five-on-five from the outset of the second period onward, the Caps were up 44-22 in shot attempts, 22-7 in shots, 26-10 in scoring chances, and 17-4 in high-danger chances. They were probably one defensive clear away from a really satisfying win.
- One of the main problems was sitting in the box too much, as they gave the NHL’s top power-play unit five attempts to score. When you’re dominating the game five-on-five, the last thing you want to do is put the other team up a man. While a few of the calls were probably bogus, that’s just how it goes playing against Connor McDavid’s team.
- Another thing that’s still very obvious is that this team is lacking a deadly finisher. We know the front office is looking to address that, but they probably should have done so 10 games ago. Let’s get a move on. They created 1.94 five-on-five expected goals in the third but only scored one. This is a win if an elite player buries another one.
- I thought Justin Sourdif was superb in the loss and really looks like he’s back in a good spot after missing those games due to injury. He finished with two points (1g, 1a) to give him 15 points (8g, 7a) in his last 11 games. The Capitals were tremendous at five-on-five with him on the ice, seeing 68.8 percent of shot attempts, 77.3 percent of scoring chances, and 72.7 percent of high-danger chances. They also scored three goals during those minutes and gave up zero.
- Charlie Lindgren had moments of sheer brilliance in this game, but also moments of being way too leaky. He needs to make the stop on at least two of Edmonton’s goals. Lindgren finished with 34 saves on 40 shots faced.
- Anthony Beauvillier became the ninth Capitals player to reach the 10-goal mark this season. According to the team, their nine skaters with 10 or more goals are tied with Carolina for the most in the NHL. The other eight on the Caps are Tom Wilson (22), Alex Ovechkin (21), Aliaksei Protas (18), Jakob Chychrun (18), Dylan Strome (14), Ethen Frank (11), Justin Sourdif (11), and Ryan Leonard (10). John Carlson (9) and Connor McMichael (8) are likely to soon join them.
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