Everything was going wrong and bad, and the Washington Capitals' road loss to the New York Islanders on Friday night was a disaster. Awkward. I feel humiliated here. I'm so ruined by this that I'm starting to feel shy. I cancel my weekend plans and watch Buffy again.
The Caps didn't score in the first period but lost two players to injuries. Poor backchecking got them on fire in the second when Pageau and Dobson each scored rush goals. Then they just stopped trying in the third period, which was nice for Julien Gauthier, who scored two goals in twenty seconds and politely accompanied us to hell. Pageau made it 5-0 while I stared absently into the middle distance.
Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored a goal in the last minute, but at that point I was in a complete depressive episode, so I didn't even see how badly Ilya Sorokin misplayed a shot attempt from NAK.
Lose caps.
Five goals for the opponent in a blatant defeat? That means it's time for a reverse bailamos. Volume at maximum. Shoot this directly into your vestibular nerve.
- Charlie Lindgren left the game early in the first period after blocking a shot from Brock Nelson. He has an injury to his upper body.
- Martin Fehervary left the game at the start of the first period after a slip by Anders Lee. He has an injury to his upper body.
- These departures occurred simultaneously. The Capitals were down one player and their starting goalie for 54 minutes. I'm sure that caused them to play poorly at times without the puck, and it certainly forced John Carlson to play some extra shifts. Last time I looked it was over 27 minutes.
- This was a terrible game for Washington. They were after the puck all night long. They couldn't defend their blue line. They failed to connect passes to create scoring chances. They couldn't even clog shooting lanes. Disappointing across the board.
- Let's feel better for a moment by looking at how Ilya Samsonov is doing. A look at the Aramco scoreboard outside the city showed Samsonov conceding four goals on 11 shots before his team regained the lead – then allowed another goal. Poor guy.
https://twitter.com/rmnb/status/1740912207716876411
- The Putting Experiment Connor McMichael There were no goals scored alongside Ovechkin, but I assume they were the best team, which isn't saying much on a night like this. Come to the third period, said Carbery Yevgeny Kuznetsov back to the top, which is a worrying habit for the head coach. Kuznetsov's extremely solid defensive play contributed significantly to Pageau's first goal.
- I wrote about this phenomenon this morning. If the Capitals lose, they will be showered with huge goal totals. I wonder if they aren't as worried about this as they should be. Like in the front office.
https://twitter.com/rmnb/status/1740892629607289095
I'm frustrated with this game. When a team loses a player early on, they often dig deep and try a little harder to make up for it. When this team lost two players early, it seemed like they thought they had an excuse for the loss. Whenever they were faced with a small emergency, they acted as if it was hopeless, as if they were facing the nameless king without Estus bottles.
And with this lousy defeat coming on the heels of the lousy Rangers loss, and with the team's points still relegated to the netherworld, everything seems terrible.
At least the Capitals have more than 21 hours to regroup before hosting the Preds tomorrow.
Headline photo: @Morgz88