The Washington Capitals followed their dominant home performance against the Carolina Hurricanes with a less good performance at least at five-on-five against the Kraken. They still won the game 5-2 and home wins have been few and far between so let us not dwell on the poor five-on-five play for too long.
Onward to Canada.
- This was the rare game that I was actually able to attend in person so that was fun. As I said in the intro, the Caps kinda got dominated in terms of five-on-five shot attempts (50 to 30) but at the end of the day, Seattle still created fewer high danger chances than the Caps (7 to 8). So, yea the Kraken had the vast majority of the possession in the game but they really weren’t able to create a ton to trouble Vanecek with that possession. That’s likely the talent discrepancy between the two teams showing up.
- I brought his name up already so we may as well talk about Vitek Vanecek. Another studly performance from the de facto number one goaltender in DC. He improved his 2022 totals to 6-3 with a 1.83 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage. Among starters in the entire league that save percentage and GAA is only behind Igor Shesterkin and Jeremy Swayman after January 1. I don’t think the Caps need to trade for a goalie anymore to be quite honest.
- The main factor that won this game for the Caps was the play of their special teams units. The power play went 2-for-2 and the penalty kill went 3-for-3. Don’t look now but the Caps have the seventh-best power play in the league since February 1, converting on 26.8-percent of their opportunities. Everyone knock on wood right now.
Tom Wilson recorded two points (1g, 1a) against Seattle, his ninth multi-point game this season. With 38 points (18g, 20a) in 53 games, Wilson is on pace for 56 points this season, which would mark a new single-season career high (2019-20: 21g-23a-44p in 68 GP).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 6, 2022
- Big time game for one of the most bang for your buck players in the league, Conor Sheary. Two goals on the night for Shears from his five individual shot attempts, four individual scoring chances, and four individual high danger chances. 14 goals from 47 games this season for Sheary which is a 24-goal pace over a full 82-game slate. The Caps are only paying him $1.5 million this season and the next.
- Three point night for Alex Ovechkin as he creeps closer and closer to tying Jaromir Jagr for third in all-time goals. Ovi has been kinda “quiet” for his standards in the past couple of months but he’s still fourth in the league with his 34 goals and fifth in the league with his 68 points. We know how he can get hot and score in bunches so Auston Matthews with his 39 goals at the top should hopefully be feeling the heat from Ovi soon if we’re lucky.
- Axel Jonsson-Fjallby played 12:16 of ice time in his return game to the NHL. 1:43 of that came on the penalty kill. He drew the power play that Ovi scored on to seal the game by using his lightning-quick speed to create a mini-break out of a nothing play in the neutral zone. I think as AJF gets more comfortable in the NHL a real good player will be in there.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
