Photo: @Capitals

That was an eventful game. Everything from the fast-paced play to the Tom Wilson’s hit that has caused an uproar. It wasn’t exactly a well-played game by the Washington Capitals, but when you have a goalie like Braden Holtby, he can cover up a lot of mistakes. 

The Caps got off to a great start with an early goal. Even half way through the game they were looking good, but once the New Jersey Devils scored their first goal of the game (shorthanded), they got all the confidence and took over the game. The MoneyPuck.com visual below shows this.

That is a huge climb by the Devils right after their goal in the second. But after that, the Capitals did a good job of containing the Devils, including killing a full five-minute penalty.

It’s unfortunate to see the Capitals not push that much offensively at 5v5 but they were killing 11 minutes of penalties and with the ejection of Wilson, their lines were jumbled. It’s hard to switch up the lines mid way through the game and get some consistency.

A silver lining to losing Wilson for the game was Andre Burakosky being bumped up to the first line with Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom (who scored a hat trick). Burakovsky scored a goal and was the second best player at 5v5 for the Caps. He was also on the ice for 2-0 in High Danger Chances and 4-2 in Scoring Chances according to Natural Stat Trick. Burakovsky has been playing well lately, but hasn’t translated to the scoresheet so it’s good to see him pot a goal. Hopefully more are to come.

That was the seventh win in a row for the Caps as they look to continue that play. The Wilson hit will certainly be interesting that every fan will be paying to closely. Wilson is a huge part of the Capitals turning their season around. Losing him again would leave another big hole.

By Luke Adomanis