Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals fell to the Ottawa Senators, 4-3 (OT) Thursday night at Capital One Arena. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 23rd goal of the season in the loss. The Capitals record to falls 20-13-5 (45 points) on the season.
Darcy Kuemper (10-9-2, 2.40 GAA, .920 sv%) got the start in goal for the Capitals. Cam Talbot (9-8-1, 2.66 GAA, .915 sv%) got the start for the Senators. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Alexander Alexeyev — Matt Irwin
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched: Joe Snively, Lucas Johansen.
FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals and Senators skated to a scoreless draw in the first frame.
The Senators controlled possession in the first eight minutes of the period, but the differential leveled-off in the second half of the period. The Senators led in 5v5 shot attempts, 20-13 and SOG, 16-4 in the first frame. The Sens led in xGF 1.29 to .36.
SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals quickly grabbed the game’s first lead early in the middle frame with a tally from Alex Ovechkin (23) just 1:15 into the period. Erik Gustafsson (15) and Garnet Hathaway (6) had the helpers.
8️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ #Ovechkin pic.twitter.com/up3IMpDRss
— LNH (@LNH_FR) December 30, 2022
The Capitals quickly made it 2-0 with a tally from Dylan Strome (7) at 3:37 of the second period. Conor Sheary (13) and Nick Jensen (14) had the assists.
🥵 this shot pic.twitter.com/zj3lpzWody
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 30, 2022
The Senators got on the scoreboard with a tally from Jake Sanderson (2) at 8:30 of the second period. The deflected point shot ended Darcy Kuemper’s personal shutout streak at 107 minutes and 30 seconds.
Jake Sanderson scores against the Washington Capitals to make it 2-1 #WSHvsOTT #ALLCAPS #GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/zoXhhyszz9
— nopClips (@nopClips) December 30, 2022
But the Capitals were able to restore their two-goal lead late in the period. Evgeny Kuznetsov (6) notched the Capitals third goal of the game at 15:56 of the second period. The goal was unassisted.
THAT DANGLE BY KUZY 😵💫 pic.twitter.com/j1eKqRSKY0
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) December 30, 2022
The Senators answered late in the second period. Tim Stutzle (12) made it 3-2 at 19:44 of the second period. Claude Giroux (16) had the lone helper.
Tim Stützle finishes an unreal play by Claude Giroux! #GoSensGo
A thing of beauty. pic.twitter.com/iW2VmzW6xG
— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) December 30, 2022
The second period concluded with the Capitals leading, 3-2. The Senators dominated possession, leading in 5v5 shot attempts, 45-24, after two periods, but strong goaltending by Kuemper and converting on the few chances they did have gives the Caps the lead. Sens led in high-danger chances, 13-3 and xGF 2.34 to .98.
THIRD PERIOD
The Senators tied the game in the final frame with a goal from Alex DeBrincat (12) at 14:26 of the final frame. Shane Pinto (7) and Drake Batherson (22) had the helpers.
DEBRINCAT TIES THE GAME! 🚨
Assisted by Batherson and Pinto pic.twitter.com/uOUEKRclKj
— Lalime’s Martian (@LalimesMartian) December 30, 2022
Regulation would end, tied 3-3.
OVERTIME
The Senators would win it in overtime.
ALEX DEBRINCAT WINS IT IN OVERTIME!🚨
SENS WIN! pic.twitter.com/tvW0SHGaPF
— Lalime’s Martian (@LalimesMartian) December 30, 2022
The Capitals are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host the Montreal Canadiens at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 4PM.
SHAVINGS
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 23rd goal of the season to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. It marks Ovechkin’s NHL-record 138th game-opening goal.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his sixth goal of the season to extend the Capitals’ lead to 3-1. Kuznetsov extends his point streak to four games (2g, 3a) and now has 14 points (3g, 11a) in his last 14 games.
That was ugly. Very lucky to get a point. The possession dominance by Ottawa reminded me of Caps games from early in the season.
There was a slow and steady hissing sound as soon as the Capitals had a sizeable lead. A slow leak? A burning fuse? Could have been both.
This was the Christmas Break rust that the Rangers and Pits had last game.
Then why didnt Ottawa show the same? It was a very sloppy game and the fumble in OT was not the only time that 2 Caps players were in the same space and they were outshot by a ton! Lucky to even get a point!! On the bad side wonder why Toronto didnt call for a review of the goalie interference when he was run into by Claude Giroux in the 2nd period? Guess that the league only calls for reviews if it is Toronto or Montreal not the Caps!
Or Pittsburgh. If a Penguin goalie is run into, the offender is given a 2 minute penalty, and made to apologize for daring to touch a Pen goalie.
Played a sloppy game, and got outshot 2-1. Still had opportunities to put it away, but we made some costly turnovers, and let them dominate the puck. We were honestly lucky to get away with an OTL. Oh well, shake it off and on to the next one. We got a really favorable stretch coming up.
In honor of Festivus + 7, here is the Airing of Grievances about today’s game:
1) Barely getting any shots during 1st period thanks to errant passing
2) Getting a lead and not being able to hold onto it thanks to turnovers, especially that.
3) Too many soul crushing boners.
And to add to my list of grievances, when getting a power play late in second period, not only not scoring on that power play but getting stuck in the defensive zone late in tha tperiod and letting the other team score almost immediateat after that PP was over.
Ottawa played a strong game. Kuemper was great for most of the game. Not sure what happened on the 2nd and 3rd goals.
The Caps held Ottawa off the board for a long time. Even though Ottawa had way more shots I thought the Caps checked their chances for most of the game. The Sens were just better tonight.
Happy 2023, Jon! What’s the significance of the stats there?
My take is that the Caps played well in the defensive end. They had to or it would’ve been 17-0. It looked like the Caps were working on their defensive play. But I think that’s because the Sens were so dominant except at the point of shooting.
Way too many turnovers and Ottawa could get thru neutral easier than the Caps. Caps didn’t seem willing to grind with a dump and chase and when they did, they lost possession a lot.
Ovechkin should not play during 3X3 overtime. Especially while we are in a “let’s get Alex another goal!!” mode. I love his big hits, but that’s not what’s called for in overtime….just my opinion
I tend to agree with you, James. It’s a different style of play in 3×3.
On a side note, your comment reminds of the very first 3-on-3 for the Caps, in preseason of 2015-16 season. Players didn’t know what to expect or do. In this one, a caps player missed the net and Ovi and Kuzy both overpursued the puck and it was a 3-on-1 the other way for the Hurricanes for the game winner. I laugh at it when I look at video today:
https://novacapsfans.com/2015/09/22/3-on-3-hockey-first-take-first-data-points/
The problem was not Ovie it was Kuzy for running into his own player. There were just to many times this game where 2 Caps were in the same spot. They played completely opposite of how the played against the Rangers. As for when to play Ovie; well they are going to be min the “lets get Alex another goal” for at least the next 2 years or 92 goals! So might as well sit back and enjoy! .
It is clear to me that the aliens who had kidnapped the Caps on Thanksgiving and replaced them with a good team had a change of heart and swapped them back at Christmas. Cruel, cruel, hope-raising and then -crushing aliens.
More seriously, they just stunk last night. Maybe got a bit too impressed with themselves after whupping the Raggies, maybe just had a bad night. We’ll see in the next week or three whether the past month before last night was a mirage. With a lot of guys potentially coming off the injured list soon, January could be a great month… or not, depending on how those rebuilt guys get reintegrated, and how well the entire team plays once everybody adjusts to whatever role they end up playing. If everybody does get healthy, the Caps will be an incredibly deep team… deep in WHAT is the real question though…
I think, for me, it will depend on how the next game goes. All teams are allowed an occasional clunker (in my book). It’s how they respond that’s more important to me.
You are so right. So the caps should never have 3 days off only 2 to prevent clunkers! Im also looking at the roster and how well these guys have gelled adn have great chemistry (well except tonight) and hope that no more players are ready to come back and upset that chemistry. Would rather wait until there is a tail spin and they lose several games in a row or go 1-9 in a 10 game stretch. If that happens than make the changes.
Lavi is going to put varsity players back in immediately no matter how well the JV is playing. “Gel” and “great chemistry” are not in his stylebook.
LMAO….thanks needed that this morning!!