Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
The Washington Capitals lost to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-4 in a shootout at Enterprise Center on Thursday night. The loss dropped Washington’s record to 7-9-3 this season.
With the loss, the Capitals are now seventh in the Metropolitan Division, and they are currently two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning having one and two games in hand, respectively, on them. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 20 shots in his first game back in St. Louis after spending last season in their organization.
Capitals’ Lines at St. Louis
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Aliaksei Protas
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: LW Joe Snively, D Alexander Alexeyev
Injured: RW Connor Brown (ACL, missed 15th straight game, out indefinitely); D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, sixth, day-to-day); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 19th, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 19th, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 19th, indefinite); RW T.J. Oshie (lower-body, 10th, indefinite); LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, eighth, week-to-week)
Suspended: RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel (last of three)
Protas replaced Milano, who slid down one line, on the top trio. McMichael replaced Snively and Johansson was demoted to the fourth-line. Carlson played the 900th NHL game of his career.
St. Louis’ Lines
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Vladimir Tarasenko
Brandon Saad — Ryan O’Reilly — Josh Leivo
Ivan Barbashev — Brayden Schenn — Jordan Kyrou
Nikita Alexandrov — Noel Acciari — Tyler Pitlick
Nick Leddy — Niko Mikkola
Torrey Krug — Justin Faulk
Calle Rosen — Tyler Tucker
Thomas Greiss
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: LW Nathan Walker, RW Alexey Toropchenko
Injured: D Colton Parayko (undisclosed, second, day-to-day), D Robert Bortuzzo (upper-body, fifth, indefinite), D Marco Scandella (hip, 16th, indefinite), D Scott Perunovich (shoulder, 16th, indefinite), C Logan Brown (upper-body, fifth, indefinite)
First Period
Scoring
4:56, 1-0 St. Louis: After picking up the pick in the defensive zone, Kyrou skated ahead to the slot and dropped the puck to Schenn, who ripped one past the glove of Lindgren from the right dot.
It was all yellow… and now it’s goal-light red. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/Nyxdx4dbQQ
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 18, 2022
7:10, 2-0: Tarasenko dumped the puck in from the neutral zone and Buchnevich beat Carlson to it, wrapped around the net, and beat Lindgren to the right pad.
HOLY WRAPAROUND BATMAN! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/j2txb7efYP
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 18, 2022
11:49, 3-0 (PPG): Krug blasted one to the lower right pad of Lindgren from the top after playing catch with Thomas, who was at the left dot.
First we play keep-away, then we score. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/ynjyzIonKS
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 18, 2022
Shots: 9-8 Washington
Other notable stats: St. Louis won 74% of the draws and scored once on three power-plays. Washington had no takeaways while St. Louis was credited with three.
Second Period
Scoring
15:12, 3-1: After Strome forced a turnover by Tarasenko, he poked a cross-ice pass on the backhand to Ovechkin in front of the net. Ovechkin took a few steps, hesitated, and fired a shot glove-side on Greiss.
Ovi roofer pic.twitter.com/l21EShvgnv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
17:36, 3-2 (SHG): Dowd skated the puck out of the defensive zone, fed Carlson in the neutral zone, and Carlson called his own number to the top left corner. The 32-year-old scored his second career shorthanded goal.
900th game calls for a goal pic.twitter.com/tMb9yeoDVH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
18:02, 4-2: O’Reilly roofed a backhanded shot to the top right corner in front after getting a pass from Leivo just north of the goal-line.
Shots: 26-16 Washington (including 17-9 in the second)
Other notable stats: St. Louis won 67% of the faceoffs and scored once on their first four power plays. Washington had no giveaways while St. Louis tallied four.
Third Period
Scoring
15:45, 4-3 (PPG): Carlson one-timed a cross-ice feed from Strome from the top of the left dot by the glove of Greiss. It marked Carlson’s ninth career multi-goal game. Carlson is one of three players this season to record a shorthanded goal and a power-play goal in the same game (Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat, New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad) and the only defenseman to do so. Strome recorded two assists, marking his third multi-assist game this season and his team-leading fifth multi-point game.
Top 🧀 pic.twitter.com/OCTCQ9WjKk
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
16:57, 4-4: Sheary buried a pass from Kuznetsov down low after Kuznetsov got the puck, toe-dragged around Thomas, and Ovechkin spun around and passed to Kuznetsov in the corner. With his third point of the night, Ovechkin passed Bryan Trottier (1,425) for the 18th-most points in NHL history. Ovechkin recorded his 400th career multi-point game against St. Louis, moving him past Mark Recchi (399) for the 15th most in NHL history.
FOLKS pic.twitter.com/rjKRr19enQ
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
Dowd batted in a rebound from Orlov’s shot but with a high-stick and cross-checked Greiss in the chest with 2:23 left. Therefore, there was no goal.
Shots: 49-20 Washington (22-3 in the third)
Other notable stats: St. Louis won 66% of the faceoffs and led 16-10 in blocked shots. Washington finished with one giveaway while St. Louis earned six. Both teams scored one power-play goal (Washington had three opportunities, St. Louis four).
The Capitals limited St. Louis to three shots on goal in the third period, the fewest shots they have allowed in a single period this season.
Overtime
Scoring
None
Shots: 51-24 Washington (4-2 St. Louis in overtime)
The Capitals recorded 51 shots on goal against St. Louis, the first time Washington registered 50 or more shots in a games since March 20, 2019 in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Capitals are one of eight teams to record at least 50 shots in a game this season.
Shootout
Kyrou (St. Louis): sped in, slowed down, denied by right pad of Lindgren
Kuznetsov (Washington): deked slowly, fired one blocker-side past Greiss
Tarasenko (St. Louis): skated in and denied with the blocker
Ovechkin (Washington): deked on the backhand and shanked the shot blocker-side
O’Reilly (St. Louis): skated in, deked, faked shot, wait, scored top corner
Carlson (Washington): flew in, waited, denied by the pad after Greiss stretched out
Schenn (St. Louis): weaved from side to side, deked, hit the left post
Mantha (Washington): skated to the left, got to the middle, deked, fired one into the left pad of Greiss as stick broke
Thomas (St. Louis): took it wide, skated in, deked, missed net
Strome (Washington): took it wide, deked, went to middle, shut down by five-hole
Buchnevich (St. Louis): skated out, waited, fired one top left corner
Sheary (Washington): little circle out, went down the wing, fired one wide
Next game: Saturday vs. Colorado Avalanche (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)
By Harrison Brown
McM TOI and 5on5 8:01. Next lowest was Matt Irwin 10:15 TOI and 5on5.
Someone reported that Milano did not play much in OT, if at all.
C-Mac was the only player with an xGF% below 50%. I’d expect he gets sent down to make room for Orlov return.
Sitting on the bench and then getting to sub for a few minutes in different positions on different lines every so often isn’t working. I’m all for his return to Hershey. My questions is, what is his preference? Would he rather stay with the Caps under these conditions or go to Hershey?
I would think if he wants to play hockey as a career, he would prefer to go to Hershey. If he does well there, he will at least have a resume for other teams.
That’s a tough call, but I bet Connor wants to stay with the big club. Unfortunately he may need time in Hershey to regroup.
I can’t figure out what Laviolette is doing a) with Connor McMichael and b) with the whole team. The Caps are moving into Head Coach Adam Oates territory.
My guess would be that Connor wants to do what he’s probably been doing since he was about 4 or 5: play hockey. I know I’d be dissatisfied if I was being scratched most games, and barely playing in the ones I did dress for.
Staying in the Caps’ press box or on the bench isn’t doing his resume any good. You show the stats — which ones could McM use?
Honestly he should have been sent down sooner as this HC is not doing him right by both not playing him and not playing him at his natural position. A question for you Jon, why does the HC think he has to change the lines from game to game? Doing so never gives the players a chance to feel comfortable and get used to linemates or their passes. Isnt it almost time to replace the lame duck HC?
Any game going to a shootout is a guaranteed loss for the Caps given they have just ONE competent shootout shooter on their roster. As soon as the Blues brought in Buchnevich, I knew it was all over.
Was the 2018 SCF the last time the Caps showed up for a complete game?
Game 6 against Tampa Bay in Conference Final. Most,complete game in recent history. IMHO.
There was that szn opener vs. BOS…
These first period start are hard to explain.
The team shows it is good enough to win games, so this is less about injuries and more about why a team is giving up a ton of goals in the first period and then dominating the last two?
This year’s team might be the strangest Caps team ever. It’s a good character group. No trouble children. We could use more heart (Wilson and Oshie will help) but these Caps do play hard. The goalies are good. That said, for the life of me I can’t understand what the players are trying to do out there. The “system” appears to have blown up. Many of our guys are non-factors or MIA in the D zone. Offensively, it looks like the players don’t know where the other players are supposed to be. Everyone appears to be improvising all the time. 5 on 5 looks like bumpers cars.
I think we’re looking at a top 5 overall draft pick this year. Which is fantastic, actually.
I think part of the problem is players getting switched from line to line and from wing to wing at the whim of the HC. There is no reason to make these switches all the time as it ruins what chemistry the players have. For me outside of the injuries the biggest problem with this team is the inability of the HC not to do something rather than just letting the players roll and get used to each other. And I would love a top 5 pick in the draft. I honestly think that the GM should look at this team and say OK, lets start the rebuild NOW!! The first move in the rebuild would be to fire most of the coaching staff and let Scott Allen run things the rest of this year. Then start to slowly trade off players, especially some of the 13 who are going to be UFA or RFA after this season and bring up the younger players from Hershey. Trade players for picks in this years and next year draft and for young players. We already know what this bunch can do lets see what guys like Johansen, Gersich, Pilon, Sutter, Matt Strom and other can do in the NHL. Let them play 40-45 games and if they can good if they cant then we know that we have to retool from the ground up as there is nothing in Hershey.
Lavi wants Swiss army knives that he can plug into any vacancy. If we were to get a new HC, I would vote for Carbs. Although the hockey press says that Gabby will be available shortly and have even read that Garrant is on a hot seat. I think any would be good for a rebuilding team. But I do not see Lavi leaving this season unless he wants to.
I see it the same way. Laviolette is finished in DC. The team is out of sync and chewed up. Since Laviolette, the Caps have brought too many soft players like Gustafsson, Schultz, Jensen, TVR, Mojo, Sprong, Milano. Of course, it’s great to have skill and skating but you need a lot of toughness and BMac and Laviolette haven’t been adding much of that.
It’s time to re-tool. Trade what players you can for draft picks, fill in with young players from Hershey and bring in a new head coach. This team is going nowhere as it stands.