Photo: Twitter/@Capitals
The Washington Capitals fell to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. Tom Wilson had the lone goal for the Capitals. The loss is the fifth-consecutive defeat for Washington and drops their record to 28-25-6 (62 points) on the season.
Darcy Kuemper (16-17-0-4, 2.67 GAA, .914 sv%) got the start in goal for the Capitals. Ville Husso (21-13-0-5, 2.95 GAA, .904 sv%)got the start between the pipes for the Red Wings. The Capitals starting forward lines and defensive pairs:
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Conor Sheary — Nicklas Backstrom — Marcus Johansson
Lars Eller — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson – Dylan McIlrath
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Extras: Nicolas Aube-Kubrick, Alexander Alexeyev, Matt Irwin
FIRST PERIOD
The Red Wings struck first with a goal from Robert Hagg (1) at 10:16 of the first period. Tyler Bertuzzi (10) and Olli Maatta (13) had the helpers.
Robert Hagg gets the boys going. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/WqTilz1wgl
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 22, 2023
The Capitals were awarded a five-minute power play after Dylan Larkin cross-checked T.J, Oshie to the head, which earned Larkin a game misconduct. Unfortunately, the Red Wings would add a shorthanded tally from Pius Suter (10) at 14:57, the 5th shorthanded tally against the Capitals this season, making it 2-0.
A 5 minute penalty kill? No problem for Pius Suter. 🤷
pic.twitter.com/LBVLX2Aoq0— Alexander Johnson (@AJohnsonSports) February 22, 2023
The Capitals finally got on the board with a power play goal from Tom Wilson during the remaining Larkin power play time, to make it 2-1.
Tom Wilson gets a piece of a Erik Gustafsson shot and the Caps are on the board! 🦅 pic.twitter.com/1QZcyWHrhQ
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 22, 2023
And that was it for the first period.
Orlov welcomes his old teammate back to DC 💥 pic.twitter.com/D9Bxwx7GLi
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 22, 2023
The Wings took control of the possession at the 6 min mark. They led in five-on-five shot attempts, 17-10, scoring chances, 6-3 and xGF .79 to .26. Faceoffs were even.
SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals and Red Wings skated to a scoreless draw in the middle frame.
Anthony Mantha left the game with an upper body injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
INJURY UPDATE: #Caps Anthony Mantha sustained an upper body injury and will not return to tonight’s game.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 22, 2023
The Capitals did a better job at generating five-on-five shot attempts in the middle frame – tied 14-14. Scoring chances tied 6-6. The Wings led in high-danger chances, 5-1, and xGF 1.39 to .56.
THIRD PERIOD
The Capitals mounted a surge to start the final frame, but a turnover by Evgeny Kuznetsov in the Capitals zone led to the Red Wings third goal. Pius Suter (11) notched the tally at 6:24 of the final stanza. The goal was unassisted.
Nobody can stop Pius Suter right now#LGRW
pic.twitter.com/mZcM4z7HCF— Barstool Detroit (@BSMotorCity) February 22, 2023
And that was it. Red Wings take it, 3-1.
The Capitals are back in action on Thursday when they host the Anaheim Ducks at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 7PM.
SHAVINGS
- The 4th game without Alex Ovechkin.
- Tom Wilson cut the Capitals’ deficit to 2-1 with his fourth goal of the season. It marks Wilson’s second-straight game with a goal.
- Erik Gustafsson recorded the primary assist on Wilson’s goal, his 27th assist of the season. Gustafsson’s nine power-play assists rank tied for third on the team (Evgeny Kuznetsov: 12; Dylan Strome: 11; Marcus Johansson: 9).
- Nicklas Backstrom recorded the secondary assist on Wilson’s goal, his fifth assist of the season. Four (3g, 1a) of Backstrom’s eight points this season have come on the power play.
So far, I would say that those jerseys have not really been very successful.
Bolts just beat Ducks 6-1.
Burn those jerseys!
Ugh.
This team is poo poo
I’m going to take up following Cricket
Lacrosse and go watch the Terps; both men and women!!
Get the AHL package. The Bears are good, but unfortunately, they’re having the same problem as the Caps lately: lack of scoring.
Hopefully Suzdalev, Hofer and Ethan Frank can become NHLers. The future might not be so bad.
It’s always darkest just before dawn.
Lavi running out of things to say
Maybe he could say “I’m retiring?” Seriously, if the Caps can’t play better than their last 5 games, why would he want to come back? He knows the disruptions that the UFAs are going to create. If he can’t handle the team this year, how well is he going to handle all the changes next year?
When Alan, Al, and Locker all condemn the guys for not shooting, to hear Lavi say “we couldn’t put the puck in the net” is really sad. Either he can’t see what the others are seeing or doesn’t want to admit it. Maybe the Caps need to start structuring their contracts the way I have to believe Rod does — by the shots.
Hey novafrye part of the problem that this team has had for years is their desire to make the perfect pass that results in the perfect goal. Its sad that they dont realize that sometimes you just fire the puck and see where it goes and get the rebound. I believe that the HC should have been relieved of his duties and given his walking papers along with McCarthy and Forsythe and also give the GM his walking papers for not forcing the HC to either play the players in the system or resign. There is no sense in the young players that the Caps have drafted and invested in be shipped to other teams or sit in Hershey while the GM picks up players of the waiver wire to satisfy a failing HC. This team needs the owner to take a back seat and not worry about individual goals like a scoring title but rather team goals like the CUP!!
Hey Coach, and what do they say the road to hell is paved with…..good intentions! So you need more than intentions just like Im sure that Larkin did not have the intention of getting a 5 minute major and getting kicked out of the game. Intentions are not enough!!
The uniforms don’t look as bad with those god awful helmets/#’s that were used during Stadium Series game. Looked like that concept was done 5 year old! Like I said before ownership needs to invest in coach that wants to build a winner, Pete knows his 15 minutes of fame in DC is just about done.
Age has caught up to us. Our vets are all hitting the wall at around the same time. Backstrom, Kuzy, Eller, Oshie, Carlson, etc. It’s obvious that the team is desperate for young stars.
I give the players a lot of credit for playing hard this year. The other teams have better, younger talent. It’s not hard to figure out, really.
It definitely seems like they all hit the wall at the same time. I’ve been describing the Caps as like a Jenga block tower that just had the last block pulled and fell down.
Yeah, it’s been a fantastic party in DC from the day we won the Ovie lottery. That party is over. It just is.
I don’t fault BMac for this year’s team. I liked the Connor Brown add. He got knocked out for the year. A damned shame. He might’ve made a significant difference because he’s an excellent defensive forward and can score a bit. We’ll never know for sure. We had reason to expect some O from Connor McMichael but either he wasn’t ready or for Lavi reasons that didn’t happen. No one expected Mantha to totally lose his offensive game.
BMac did put a weak defensive corps together again. But it wasn’t crazy to think we could make the playoffs which is what Ted asked BMac to aim for.
Now I expect the Caps to finish in the bottom 10 of the league. Should get a fine prospect with that pick. And if we can move a few vets for more picks maybe we’ll get lucky and hit on a few prospects.
I’d keep Lavi to finish out this year. Then let him walk. I’d bring in someone like Carbury. And let the young guys from Hershey play next year. BMac can add a few vets here and there next summer or next season and vie for a wild card. We can’t be much worse than we are now.
Which is why we need a rebuild. Since the team first made the playoffs, in the year 1982-83, the organization has had one full scale rebuild in 40 calendar years. They’ve gotten past the second round 3 times in 32 playoff appearances. Tampa Bay has had two rebuilds in 25 calendar years, has 3 Stanley Cups, 2 finals losses, and a few Conference finals losses.
We’re overdue, if only Leonsis will see it
Totally agree with you however Ted is blinded by the chance that he could have the player who breaks #99 scoring record. This from what used to be a short fat man whit a huge ego and in sports an owner with an ego can be very dangerous just look at the Washington redskins now, The Oakland Raiders and Colts and The Yankees who won despite Steinbrenner. In business you keep your workers as long as you can as long as they are productive. In sports that is not true you have to bring in new young legs and talent all the time.
Will Ovie break the record, I don’t know but would be nice however it should NOT be the team goal. The team goal should always be winning the CUP!! IF you get an individual goal along the way that is nice and if you don’t it doesn’t matter as you achieved the TEAM goal, winning the CUP!! This is what Ted has failed to learn and thus failed as an owner!! The sport is bigger than any one player or record!
Plenty of room here on the “Let’s tank this season, and start a rebuild” bandwagon. Seats available, right next to me. No charge!
Already onboard! Also hoping to replace the GM before the draft and the HC asap.
I don’t see many options on improving the forward lines.
Ovechkin (not getting traded unless he wants out, highly unlikely)
Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Oshie, Mantha* (likely untradeable due to cap hit/term)
Strome, Milano (already re-signed to multi-year extensions)
Wilson, Hathaway, Dowd (high energy players I feel the team should keep)
Eller, Sheary, Johansson, Aube-Kubel, Brown, Hagelin (UFA’s, no need to keep any)
McMichael, Lapierre, Protas, Suzdalev, Miroschnichenko (need to decide if they are NHL players that can make an impact, or just a player with potential who could be thrown into a trade to get rid of a bad contract.
These are good points Rob. Jon, maybe you can give your opinion on realistically the Hershey Bears would part with to replace whomever gets traded from the big club? HB has never, to me, been seen as ‘merely’ the Caps farm team. I don’t think they’d be happy if the Caps ‘called up a bunch of guys’ to replace them. They have designs on a Cup too. The Caps might only trade 1or 2 forwards and defensemen each. Would Caps be able to fill those 4(?) spots w/o disrupting the Bears too much?
I know you addressed the question to Jon, but I’ll throw in my 4 cents (inflation).
The most NHL ready Bears are Malenstyn, Protas and Ethen Frank. The first two are likely bottom 6 players. Frank needs to be signed to an NHL contract. My thought is he tops out as Alex Debrincat, bottoms out as Daniel Sprong. Big time shot, and set an AHL record as fastest skater. Probably he’ll be somewhere in between those players. 25-30 goals. If the Caps go to tank mode, then you bring up Lapierre and CMac, let them sink or swim. I don’t see anybody else on the Bears being close to making an NHL impact right now. Iorio needs more seasoning in the A.
The first two yes but EF is a big unknown, though it would be great if they have a hidden superstar there…my question was more about how the Bears would be effected if Caps had to call up a bunch (4,5) of players that would jeopardize Hersheys chances in their own cup run.
Don’t forget that the ECHL Stingrays have players on loan. Bear Hughes was an offensive powerhouse until he went to the All Star game. Hasn’t really clicked since. Martin Has has been ok, but not great. Benton Maass has continued to impress with his development. He is now one of their top Dmen. Clay Stevenson has been a great goalie. A second goalie was loaned to them but got injured preseason with the Caps and has not been to games or practices.
I think Clay could move up to Hershey, Benton could move up, earlier would have said that Bear could move up.
“Tonight the guys had the right intentions…we couldn’t put the puck in the net. It’s frustrating for everybody.” How many times we do have to hear this? If the guys has good intention and they do the “good things”, but we are in the looser side, definetively it shows that the system is wrong. 🙁