Alex Ovechkin and Andre Burakovsky have always had an, uh, special friendship and that continued Saturday night in Philadelphia.
During warmups, Ovechkin was captured by NBC Washington cameras skating into and then gently shoving the Burracuda. Burakovsky, potentially still feeling cocky from his first NHL fight the night before, responded by grabbing Ovechkin’s collar.
By Ian Oland 5 years ago
The Washington Capitals, without Matt Niskanen and playing in their second game in two nights, got drubbed by the Philadelphia Flyers 8-2 Saturday night.
There were many reasons why the team lost: the Caps were tired, the team defense was awful, and the Ovi line was torn apart in the D zone (Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov were on the ice for five of the Flyers’ eight goals).
But if you want two charts that really capture the ineptitude, let me point you to these shot attempt and shot location charts.
Rookie defenseman Madison Bowey made his “dream” NHL debut Saturday night and it did not go well. The Capitals, facing adversity for the first time during their young season, got steamrolled by the Philadelphia Flyers 8-2.
Bowey, who was on the ice for four Flyers goals, was at one point faked out so bad by Jakub Voracek that he lost his stick and watched helplessly as Wayne Simmonds scored.
The Capitals went into Philadelphia on the back half of a back-to-back and faced a Flyers team just now hosting their home opener for the 2017-18 season. The extra jump the Flyers got from both of those things were too much for Philipp Grubauer and the Caps.
Sean Couturier put the Flyers on the board early, slamming home his own rebound after an odd man break. Jakub Vrana quickly knotted things back up at one, but that wouldn’t last long, as Grubauer took a risk and Scott Laughton made him pay for it. 2-1 Philadelphia after twenty minutes.
Wayne Simmonds struck on the power play and Claude Giroux deflected another past Grubauer as the lead bulged to three. Nicklas Backstrom scored immediately on a breakaway after the Giroux tally to trim the lead, but Valterri Filppula restored the three goal lead minutes later. 5-2 orange guys.
Laughton would strike again after more sloppy neutral zone play. Couturier would do the same. Giroux would add another.
Flyers beat Caps 8-2.
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
Friday night, Evgeny Kuznetsov became the first Capitals player ever to record 10 assists in the team’s first five games. The very next night, Kuznetsov made some more history.
After collecting another apple on a Jakub Vrana goal, Kuzy became the first NHL player since 2012 to record 11 assists in his team’s first six games. The person he tied was none other than potential Hall of Famer Joe Thornton.
The Capitals won big in Jersey last night, but it cost them at least 10 games of their best defenseman, Matt Niskanen, who went onto IR this morning. For this evening’s dance in Philadelphia, the Caps will debut defenseman Madison Bowey and desperately hope to get another four points out of Nick Backstrom. It’ll be hard to win without another big contribution from the top six.
NBC Washington has your TV coverage for the 7 PM game, and Chris from the Comments has your recap.
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
The Capitals went to the garden state to play the undefeated New Jersey Devils and came away with a convincing 5-2 victory. Led by a dominant two-way performance from Nicklas Backstrom, the Caps put together an organized and efficient performance that we hadn’t really seen yet this season.
They out-attempted the Devils 43 to 37 at five-on-five and outshot them 28 to 23. When you adjust those numbers for score and venue, the possession gets even more lopsided in favor of the team from DC.
By Chris Cerullo 5 years ago
Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen left last night’s game early after a collision with Devils forward Jimmy Hayes. We now know more about the degree of Niskanen’s injury. The team has placed him on LTIR, which means Niskanen must miss at least 10 games and 24 days. To fill the spot, the Caps have recalled Madison Bowey from Hershey.
By Peter Hassett 5 years ago
