Missing their sweetheart Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals treated the Carolina Hurricanes to a romantic evening of dates, discussions and more.
Brent Burns was our first scorer and weaved through traffic to give the Canes a 1-0 lead. TJ Oshie scored in the last minute of the first period, taking a great pass from substitute Joe Snively.
In the second game, Paul Stastny had a lucky bounce to restore Carolina’s lead, which Joe Snively canceled out with a rush goal, but then Brady Skjei’s deflection made Carolina 3-2 after two.
The Caps somehow scored in the third, but it was called back. So once again they stayed under three goals, which usually means tonight’s result: lose caps.
- The Caps have a big goal-shooting problem. They have struggled to score more than two goals in many games and on Tuesday they struggled without their leading scorer Alex Ovechkin, who is absent due to family reasons.
- In its place: Herndon’s own Joe Snively, who was called up from Hershey for the first time in the new year – just in time to score and assist. Snively was great with the puck, sending an elite pass to TJ Oshie in the first and calling his own number in the second. He wasn’t great without the puck, but whatever: scoreboard.
- Washington’s power play had to improvise without Alex Ovechkin, who had played 95 percent of the Caps’ PP time as of tonight. Mostly they have slotted Yevgeny Kuznetsov in Ovi’s place, though they didn’t force-feed him passports for a one-timer. I found the powerplay to be relatively good, so objectively pretty bad, but I was still unlucky not to have converted.
- TJ Oshie Set a backswing in canes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi in the second period. The tip of Oshie’s helmet somehow went into Kotkaniemi’s chin, so officers named it a double minor. Only then did they keep it while the show ran in commercials. Ultimately, this feels like the right call – just a weird sequence of events.
- Speaking of Oshie, he scored his 11th of the season. He’s clearly not feeling 100%, but his efforts are undeniable. It’s also undeniable that he falls pretty much every shift. I like his spirit, not his game.
- Anton Manta last met on December 31, 2022. That was 13 games ago. He put three shots into the net tonight, plus a crossbar. I thought he was very good in that game, apart from the little detail that he never fucking scored a goal. He was unlucky, but at this point the frustration must be unbearable for everyone involved. Trading closes in two weeks.
- Trevor van Riemsdyk scored after a spirited net crash from his teammates to level the game in game three, but all the boys in the circle – particularly TJ Oshie, who crashed into Freddie Andersen – represented keeper interference.
- Matt Irwin had a bad night. I’m sure there are numbers to back this up, but I’m just going by feelings. Carolina feels (old) after particularly tough matchups for a guy like him.
With a tiny @JohnWaltonPxP miniature #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/SRN53M4bRr
— good tweet Pete 🌮 (@peterhassett) February 15, 2023
The lack of insults continues to kill the Washington Capitals. If they don’t get their goalkeeper to perform superhumanly, they’re going to lose a lot of games like this. Something has to give way soon – even if that shoots up some percentages. But I sincerely hope that the team is motivated to make significant adjustments.
Headline photo: @pennybacker