The Washington Capitals got shut out by the New York Islanders 3-0 on Thursday night. Normally, when you see that sort of scoreline, it means the team you cheer for has been played off of the rink by their opposition.
Not so much in this game. Let’s get into what exactly took place.
- The first two periods of this game were utter and complete dominance by the Capitals…everywhere but the scoreboard that read 3-0 in favor of New York after they were over. Through forty minutes, the Capitals were out-attempting the Islanders 62 to 19, out-scoring chancing them 38 to 10, and out-high danger chancing them 19 to 4. They just simply could not buy a bounce and simply do not have the finishing talent they once did. The third period wasn’t good but that felt more like the Islanders just battened down their hatches and the Capitals got discouraged. Kinda like me when I play mini golf with my family and I know I’m going to lose so I stop trying and just mess around on the last five holes because I’m over competitive about small things. Sorry, mini personal rant there. I’m working on it.
- The major obvious difference in the game was the play of the two goaltenders. New York had a grand total of two shots on goal in the first period and scored on Darcy Kuemper with both of them. On the flip side, at the other end, Semyon Varlamov faced 4.62 expected goals against over the 60 minutes and let exactly zero goals in. That’s an almost super-human performance from Varly.
- TJ Oshie may be the most “due” player in the NHL and had another good game on Evgeny Kuznetsov’s flank. Spencer Carbery seems to have found a much better mix with his forward group and the 77-92 connection is part of that. In over 88 minutes together at five-on-five with them on the ice, the Capitals have seen 50.7 percent of the shot attempts, 55.5 percent of the expected goals, 51.7 percent of the scoring chances, and 55 percent of the high-danger chances. Keep them going.
WHY is this the chosen photo pic.twitter.com/SvZvTnipTq
— dj (@gingsnapz) November 3, 2023
- Connor McMichael played his first game in his new expanded role down the middle and did not seem to miss a beat. The 22-year-old skated over 15 minutes and recorded four shots on goal, seven individual shot attempts, five individual scoring chances, and four individual high-danger chances. He also drew a penalty and played 1:04 on the team’s penalty kill. His line, featuring Anthony Mantha and Matthew Phillips, was also excellent. The Capitals out-attempted New York 14 to 2, out-scoring chanced them 8 to 2, and out-high danger chanced them 5 to 1 with them on the ice at five-on-five.
- Not the greatest night for the top line and top defense pairing. Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson, and John Carlson were on the ice for all three of New York’s goals.
- The Capitals have had a goal disallowed in four of their last fives games. Just add that on top of the zero bounces going their way.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
