The Washington Capitals kicked off their New York road trip with a bang against the Islanders on Saturday night. The Caps took it to the Isles, scoring five unanswered goals in the Metro Division win.
It was a fun night and there haven’t been enough of those lately.
- The Caps held the Islanders to just 19 total shots in the game, the lowest any team has put up against them this season. They did a good job of bending but not breaking in terms of the chances that they did give up which has gone the opposite direction far too many times in recent months. They also potted five goals at five-on-five on just 21 shots.
- Rasmus Sandin had another huge night, adding three more assists to his tally with the Caps. He became the first player in Caps history to record three multi-point games in his first four games with the team. That’s big-time stuff.
- While it may have looked like Darcy Kuemper didn’t have a ton to do, he was yet again at the very top of his game. MoneyPuck had the Caps’ number one stopping another 1.73 more goals than expected. He has now stopped over 11.6 goals more than expected on the season.
With a 5-1 win tonight against the Islanders, the Capitals move to 17-7-0 with their mentors in attendance.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 12, 2023
- Our favorite morning numbers streak has ended. Anthony Mantha tallied two points against the Isles, one of which was a goal. It was his first goal after 19 games without one and his first point after 12 games without one.
- The penalty kill was excellent. The Islanders went 0-for-5 with a man advantage. Despite their struggles elsewhere, the Caps are still a top-ten, penalty-killing team (7th) in the league at 82.9 percent effectiveness.
- Shoutout to Dylan Strome. He has ten points (4g, 6a) in his last seven games after a two-point night. He is just one point shy of tying his total points (48) from last season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
