Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images
An awful game. Not much more to say than that after the Capitals fell on the road to the Philadelphia Flyers 8-2. A lot of the time you will have people saying a lot after games like this, but tonight there is just a couple of things to say and a couple of things to show you.
What do you say? The Capitals were awful on defense. To me this team looked like a different team when they were in the offensive zone and defensive zone. When Washington did get in the offensive zone, which frankly wasn’t often, they did look to have some energy. When they were in the defensive zone, they stood around.
You’ve wasted enough of your own time watching the game, so I’ll spare you by getting to the point and getting to the charts.
Total shot attempts were close 57-52 for the Flyers. While 5v5 the game ended 53-44.
And here is the game.
There just isn’t words to describe that honestly. The Capitals had two good chances near the Flyers net. Everything else is pretty spread out. I’m not even going to try to count the Flyers orange dots next to Philipp Grubauer. Scoring chances 5v5 ended 25-15 for Philadelphia.
Christian Djoos had a nice game in possession, not many others did. Only five Caps ended over 50% Corsi and two finished right at 50%. Two Capitals were just bad tonight in this stat, Bowey and Orpik.
Others guys tonight:
Nicklas Backstrom: +2
T.J. Oshie: Even
Dmitri Orlov: -4
Jay Beagle: -4
Capitals lost 8-2, I’m not going to talk about faceoffs too much. But, Kuznetsov went 2-14 against the Devils on Friday and 4-12 against the Flyers tonight. He has to get better as the season goes along.
Other takers:
Connolly, Smith-Pelly & Chiasson: 1-1
Ovechkin & Burakovsky: 0-1
Special teams weren’t very active tonight, there were only 4 combined power plays, the Capitals were 0/2 and the Flyers were 1/2. The Flyers scored a shorthanded goal at the end of the first period, the second SHG the Capitals have given up this season.
Grubauer was the goaltender tonight. I personally didn’t think he was bad but in saying that he didn’t do anything to help his team win. I can’t think of many big saves from him tonight. His team failed him tonight.
First game without Matt Niskanen for a while, let’s hope this isn’t what the Capitals look like without him. Things aren’t going to get any easier. Up next is the high-flying Toronto Maple Leafs, the best offensive team in the entire NHL.
By CJ Witt
Was hoping for a better showing than what the Caps gave last night. Hopefully this isn’t a continuing trend. The defense was inevitably going to be weaker than it has been the last two seasons, but the loss of Niskanen really hurts. This is the first true test the Caps have faced this season (albeit early in the season).
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