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Takeaways From Capitals 2-1 Shootout Victory Over The Canes In Raleigh

By Jon Sorensen·
Photo: X/@Capitals

The Washington Capitals played one of their most boring and uneventful games of the season in their 2-1 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a neutral zone stalemate from start to finish. The Capitals knew that they were going to have to be strong in the neutral zone because of how good Carolina is in transition. 

 T.J. Oshie, who was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury, mentioned after Saturday’s 3-1 loss against the Nashville Predators that the Caps had to be smoother while moving up ice in between the two blue lines along with locking down defensively in the middle.

The Caps executed that gameplan to a tee and had another one of those “gritty” wins on the road. 

“We’ve been in a few of these now of just grinding our way through where you can tell fatigue is a factor and we’re trying to manage the game,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said after the win. “We fight back in the game, get a huge goal to tie that thing up and then weathered some storms there for a little bit in our defensive zone, penalty kill steps up huge, [Darcy Kuemper] was excellent tonight. [He] made some massive saves for us and just found a way to win.”

The Caps are now 5-0 in the second half of a back-to-back slate and all five of those wins have come on the road. 

Here is what stood out. 

Penalty Kill Coming Up Big

The Capitals’ penalty kill once again logged a lot of minutes, but lived up to the task going 5-for-5. Following the win, the Caps have now killed off 19 of their last 20 power plays. The PK unit was put to the test early, when Nic Dowd took a double-minor high sticking penalty.

Despite having their best penalty killer unavailable for the next four minutes, the Capitals did a fantastic job at getting in shooting and passing lanes, along with blocking shots. Tom Wilson even had a shorthanded breakaway, but Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov denied him with the glove. 

The Hurricanes only had one shot on goal on that man-advantage and only had three shots on goal on the power play overall. The Capitals’ penalty kill sits at 10th in the NHL at 81.5%.

Kuemper locked in; Defense Jumping Up On The Attack

In his first start since Dec. 18, against the Chicago Blackhawks, Darcy Kuemper was dialed in for all 65 minutes plus the shootout. The Capitals netminder had lost his No. 1 role to Charlie Lindgren, but the 2022 Stanley Cup champion kept his team in the game once again.

“Kuemps was a difference maker tonight and we talked about that before the game as well; we needed a few difference makers and I thought he was right at the top of the list,” Carbery said. “Made some big saves early on, had the breakaway save, a bunch on the penalty kill and even though scrums where there’s pucks around, there’s secondary chances. I thought he was outstanding tonight.”

Kuemper did not have a lot of panic with his saves. He was square to the puck and was able to track it through traffic. His rebound control is something that he struggled with a little bit, but he looked like a very confident and hungry goaltender. 

“He made some huge saves. He was just solid. Like even all the little pucks in front of the net where they come to the net hard and they bang pucks in and he was just solid back there and comfortable,” Wilson said. 

Kuemper ended the evening with 28 saves and improved to 7-6-0 on the season. 

One thing that Carbery was harping on was for the defense to activate more into the play and contribute offensively. John Carlson and Alex Alexeyev were the only two blueliners on the Caps’ roster that scored. Martin Fehervary made it three when he skated to open ice and sniped one past Kochetkov. No one in a black sweater recognized he was going to shoot, because two Hurricanes went to guard Alex Ovechkin.

“I saw kind of opportunity to join the rush and I don’t know [if it was] a three-on-two or four-on-two, I just saw we got kind of delay and I was open,” Fehervary said. “I got the puck then I saw they were cutting off [Ovechkin]. Not surprised so I just shoot it and then it went in.”

Carolina’s Forecheck Leads To Giving Up First Goal Again

The Capitals have now given up the first goal in seven out of their last eight contests and Sunday marked the fourth time in a row the Caps surrendered the opening tally. Washington is now 7-9-2 when the opposition scores first.

Carolina is known for its heavy forecheck, and it was on full display all game long. Sebastian Aho’s opening goal was due to the high pressure that Carolina was putting on the Capitals’ defense, and it eventually led to a failed clear by Trevor van Riemsdyk.

“They work hard. They send a lot of pucks towards the net and then they work hard to retrieve them,” Kuemper said. “So you got to match their intensity and it’s a tougher thing to do on a back-to-back like this but the guys did a great job of it tonight.”

They’ve been able to respond relatively quickly in those situations, but it’s certainly not a trend the Caps want to continue.

“Obviously they got a really, really good forecheck and we got the back-to-back travel. So it wasn’t easy, but I think we handled it really well. We helped each other. We had a good structure and it worked,” Fehervary said. 

Notable Numbers and Observations

  • Alex Ovechkin’s goal drought extends to 13 games. 
  • The Capitals were solid in the faceoff circle once again, winning 55.2% of draws.
  • The Capitals were 0-for-2 on the man-advantage.
  • Nick Jensen had a solid game defensively. He was strong on the wall and very good on the penalty kill.  
  • Carolina outshot the Caps 29-21
  • Carolina had seven high danger chances compared to Washington’s 5 at 5v5. 
  • The Capitals blocked 14 shots

The Capitals will return home for a Wednesday night showdown with the New York Islanders. 

By Jacob Cheris