The Washington Capitals have not had a fun last two games, giving up 12 total goals over the course of three days against division rival opposition. Friday night’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes came in extra special embarrassing fashion as the team allowed six unanswered goals in a 6-2 loss when they were leading after forty minutes.
That lead never felt sustainable though as the Capitals had no foothold in the contest at five-on-five at any point.
- That heat map pretty much tells the whole story. Carolina, while trailing for the majority of the game, really had a stranglehold on all even strength play over the full 60 minutes. Overall in the game, the Caps were out-attempted by 40, outshot by 17, and out-scoring chanced by 20. I don’t think you really need me to tell you what’s wrong with that picture. This is the sort of game that makes you start to think about the trade deadline and what exactly the Capitals should be doing at it. Some might call that an overreaction but I think it’s more just realism.
- For some reason, Joel Edmundson played the most five-on-five minutes of any Capitals player in the game. With him on the ice, the Capitals saw massively negative differentials in shot attempts (-23), scoring chances (-13), high-danger chances (-6), and were out-scored 3 to 1. Why on earth he was continually sent back out there is beyond me. I’m sure Joel is a great guy, but I will never understand his summer addition.
- Max Pacioretty looked a little better than he did in his debut and actually led the Capitals in shots on goal with three. He rang the crossbar on a chance that I thought was surely headed for the back of the net and also saw some limited power play opportunity.
The Capitals have scored three power-play goals over their last two games and have converted on 12 of 51 power-play opportunities (23.5 percent) since Nov. 30.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 6, 2024
- Those penalties from Beck Malenstyn and Evgeny Kuznetsov were just brutal. In a span of 90 seconds, the game was over and done after it was just tied at 2-2. I don’t think either of those forwards are viable options for a winning NHL team but in Malenstyn’s case that fourth line is at least getting lucky PDO-wise and out-scoring opponents. And, Kuznetsov, I literally have no clue. Put him back on the wing?
- John Carlson recorded his 500th career assist, making him only the 34th defensemen in NHL history to be able to say that. What a sour night to do that though.
- Things will not be getting any easier for the Capitals as three of their next four games come against either the Los Angeles Kings or New York Rangers. The Rangers are the league’s top team this season sporting a .716 points percentage while the Kings aren’t too far behind with a .657 points percentage.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
