Photo: John McCreary/NHLI via Getty Images
The Washington Capitals fell to the Vegas Golden Knights, 1-0 on Monday night at Capital One Arena. The loss drops the Capitals record to 23-11-9 (55 points) on the season.
After a scoreless first frame, the Knights struck first five minutes into the middle frame with a goal from Michael Amadio for a 1-0 lead after two periods. The final frame would also go scoreless.
STATS
STARTERS
Vitek Vanecek (9-5-0-5, 2.54 GAA, .909 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Robin Lehner (16-11-0-1, 2.95 GAA, .903 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Knights. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals and Knights skated to a scoreless draw in the first frame. Vegas led in shot attempts 11-9 and scoring chances, 4-2. The Capitals led in high-danger chances, 3-1 and xGF% 57.52% to 42.48%. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the power play in the first 20 minutes of play.
SECOND PERIOD
The Knights broke the seal on the scoring with a goal from Michael Amadio (4) at 5:29 of the second period. Brett Howden (7) had the lone assist.
No better way to celebrate career game #200 than with the first goal of the game! Michael Amadio gives the @GoldenKnights a 1-0 lead in the 2nd period! #vegasborn pic.twitter.com/MnAI2jbzKU
— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM West (@ATTSportsNetRMW) January 25, 2022
The Capitals would be awarded a two-man advantage for nearly the full two minutes midway through the middle frame, but were unable to convert.
The period would end with the Knights leading 1-0. The Knights led in shot attempts 21-12, scoring chances 6-3 and xGF% 67.18% to 32.82% in the middle frame.
THIRD PERIOD
The third period would go scoreless as the Knights held on for the 1-0 victory.
Vegas was 0 for and Washington 0 for 5 on the power play. The Knights led in shot attempts 39-36. The Capitals led in scoring Chances 20-13, high danger chances 5-1 and expected goals for percentage 60.92% to 39.08%.
For whatever reason, Forsythe has a job. Why has he not been demoted back to video coach? There’s simply not enough movement on the power play to get the PK units out of position. There’s too much talent for their PP to be down at the league’s bottom dwellers. Enough with the finesse plays and having to rely upon pinpoint passing to Ovi for the one timer. I’ll take an ugly power play goal at this point, just bury it! Block the goalie’s sight lines, create more traffic
And why not try to re-construct the power play to be threatening like Tampa’s? Create danger from both sides, not just from Ovi’s office.