Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals started their season long six-game road trip with a 3-0 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena after defeating the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 6-4 on Monday night at home. The loss kept the Capitals three points within the New York Islanders for the top spot in the Metro and gave them a two-point advantage over the Blue Jackets for second. Goaltender Braden Holtby was excellent and made 29 saves in the loss, keeping the score from getting worse for the Capitals.
Capitals Lines at Blue Jackets
#Caps‘ lines vs. CBJ:
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
65-Burakovsky, 20-Eller, 10-Connolly
18-Stephenson, 26-Dowd, 25-Smith-Pelly6-Kempny, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 2-Niskanen
44-Orpik, 29-DjoosHoltby vs. Bobrovsky. #CapsJackets
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) February 12, 2019
The Capitals made no line changes from their 6-4 win over the Kings on Monday night with the exception of Holtby starting after they went with goaltender Pheonix Copley against Los Angeles.
First Period
The Blue Jackets led 11-4 in shots, 7-4 in hits, and 4-2 in takeaways after one period of play. They had one giveaway while the Capitals had three and won 60% of the draws. Columbus went 0-for-2 on the man advantage.
Each team blocked four shots.
Second Period
Forward Anthony Duclair opened the scoring calling his own number on a 3-on-1 rush and beating Holtby to the low left pad after the Capitals made a bad line change 6:32 into the period.
The Capitals led 12-6 in blocked shots after 40 minutes.
The Blue Jackets led 24-7 in shots, including 13-3 in the middle frame, 10-8 in hits, and 8-3 in takeaways after two periods of play. They had three giveaways while the Capitals had four and won 68% of the faceoffs in the first two periods. They were 0-for-3 on the man advantage through the second.
Third Period
Forward Nick Foligno made it 2-0 with 3:47 left on a give-and-go with defenseman Seth Jones, going top corner on Holtby.
Forward Artemi Panarin scored an empty netter from long range with 9.9 seconds left to make it 3-0.
The Capitals led 13-8 in third-period shots and 13-10 in blocked shots. They went 0-for-1 on the power play.
The Blue Jackets led 32-20 in shots, 15-14 in hits, and 9-5 in takeaways. They had six giveaways while the Capitals had eight and won 65% of the faceoffs. They were 0-for-4 on the man advantage.
Each team posted six shots in the final frame.
The Capitals head out west to face the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at SAP Center. Action from San Jose can be seen on NBC Sports Washington beginning at 10:30 PM Eastern.
By Harrison Brown
That game felt like the one they played vs Boston on Superbowl Sunday. That was NOT a good thing at all.
Accurate analogy.
We all can see that the Caps are a broken mechanism. They’ve been dubious for the past ten weeks. Yet “Management” stubbornly clings to Fearless Leader. I’d rather have Boris and Natasha running the team. Confidently: If the Caps do nothing, they have ZERO chance of defending their title. Happy Wednesday, Caps Fans!
In a more realistic realm, what player changes would you make?
Absolutely, positively, the sputtering Caps need a major shake-up
IF and that’s a big if, the 2019 season is to be salvaged.
It’s not apparent that Caps Management wants to salvage the season
Losing in stinko fashion is quite alright. We won the Stanley Cup, remember?
I REALLY like the idea of trading for Marcus Johansson
It would be DELIGHTFUL to send B’sky and The Hapless #22 to NJD
In exchange for “MoJo” who would like to prove his critics wrong
(I’m one of his critics! Mojo was Top-Six for a whole bunch of failed Caps teams)
Injury-prone? How about “improperly utilized” by the NJD’s bonehead brain trust
NJD ain’t the beast they were with Lou Lamouriello in charge
But just the fact that the Brilliant Analysts at “nbcsports.com/capitals”
Think that such a trade makes “Zero sense” …
That alone tells me that it would be an excellent maneuver!
Let the Opinions Roll, baby!
The Caps stink, and it’s open-season on Caps’ management
The Fans are always wrong! Except when they are not.
Marcus would be a decent move because of the familiarity. Would the Devils trade him back, is the question.
Holtby showed up and shut shit down for 95% of the game. 1-0 until 3-4minutes left, did everything he could to steal 2 points, every caps team owes him a steak dinner. I dont care about back2back every team has them and performs better(like Trotz and the Isles). All the Caps had to do was dominate for 10-15 minutes their usual effort put up 2 goals and win. But nobody showed up except Holtby until the way too late 6 on 5 pp with 1min left.
I don’t get all the invective against “management”. The Caps won the SC last year, but they weren’t “the best team” They simply came together during the play-offs and played great. That’s what happens about 90% of the time. Obviously GMBM gambled they would do the same this year when he re-hired the whole team – except for the coach. It seems obvious now that the team needs tweeking and GMBM has NEVER been reluctant to do so. So give the man (the man who assembled the 2018 SC champs) a chance to do his job and stop saying he doesn’t care.
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