Photo: X/@Capitals
The Washington Capitals ended 2023 in dramatic fashion, but unfortunately they are headed into 2024 with four straight losses. The Capitals fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Nashville Predators. A game where they got off to another dreadful start, going down 2-0 early in the first, but climbed their way back to tie the game. </a
Then, Washington thought it had put the nail in the coffin late in regulation. Alex Ovechkin, who scored the tying goal in the second period, scored his second goal of the game to give the Caps a 3-2 lead with 59 seconds left.
However, the goal was called back due to a questionable goaltender interference call. The review was initiated from the situation room in Toronto and the call was overturned.
While that call ultimately cost the Caps two points heading into the new year, Nashville outplayed Washington and Hunter Shepard was the reason why the game even went beyond regulation. Though the Caps did once again play well enough to win, they struggled to earn consistent stretches of sustained offensive zone time.
“When you’re tied in those games, it has nothing to do with scoring or generating scoring chances. It’s [about] controlling play. It’s just getting the puck on their half and keeping it there. And then all of a sudden, your next shift, your next line, they keep it there,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said after the game. “I felt like there was probably eight shifts in a row where we’re in our end, and now we’re trying to flip that momentum.”
Here is what stood out.
Too Many Odd Man rushes; Too Much Inside Presence
The Capitals once again struggled to contain odd-man rushes. The Predators were able to sneak behind Washington’s defensemen numerous times and even when the Caps started to play on their toes, Nashville still was able to gain the extra step on the Capitals’ defense.
The Predators at one point even had a three-on-one break.
Furthermore, the Predators were able to get in front of the net too easily. Both goals in the first period were because of traffic in front of Shepard, which made him late to react. There were also two wild netmouth scrambles in the third period because of how weak the Caps were defensively in the high-danger areas.
The defensive structure is something that has been lacking since the Caps came back from the holiday break.
Fourth Line Supremacy
The fourth line of Beck Malenstyn, Nic Dowd and Nicolas Aube-Kubel was utilized heavily in what was a very physical affair. Carbery put that trio up against Nashville’s top line of Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist. Right from the drop of the puck they were engaged, and they got the game’s first goal.
Malenstyn was terrific on the forecheck, and his goal started because of his hard work. He hunted after a loose puck and the Caps were able to set up shop in the offensive zone. Once the puck got up to Trevor van Riemsdyk, he threw the puck on net and Malenstyn was in front of the net to bury the rebound.
“We had a focus today of sending more pucks towards the net with body presence there and fortunately [I was] on the right side of that one,” Malenstyn said after the game.
The checking line ended the game with five scoring chances, three of which were high danger, through 11:27 of ice time.
Shep Daddy
If there was a record for how many times a player has been called up and sent down, it would belong to the reigning Calder Cup Playoffs MVP.
“That’s part of the job. Coming up, going down, it’s just part of it,” Shepard said. “[When] you get sent up you gotta be ready, when you get sent down what you need to do in Hershey.”
After a slow start to the game, the 28-year-old netminder started to dial in and had some incredible saves to keep the Capitals in the game. No save was bigger than with three minutes to go in the second period. Filip Forsberg fed the puck across to Tommy Novak and Shepard denied him with the glove. That was just one of a few ten-bell saves.
WHAT A SAVE BY HUNTER SHEPARD pic.twitter.com/ehPSY23NPL
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 31, 2023
“When the pass slid across, it was kind of slow. So it wasn’t like I had to get there right now, so it gave me a little bit of time to slide over, but it was nice,” Shepard said. “The way we played it, it was either kind of force him to make a play, so I can get going a little bit so I can let him do whatever. So, when there’s a read to be made, it makes it a lot easier for me.”
Shepard ended the evening with 34 saves on 36 shots. He will likely continue to remain with the Caps with Charlie Lindgren sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Notable Numbers and Observations
- Ethan Bear looked solid in his Capitals debut. He played 20:05 of ice time and had two shots on goal
- The Capitals were 0-for-3 on the man-advantage
- Washington had 13 giveaways
- With this loss, the Capitals are now 6-1 in the second leg of a back-to-back.
- Capitals had 11 high danger chances, seven of which in the first period at 5v5.
- The Caps had 18 hits
The Capitals will begin 2024 another back-to-back slate beginning with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 2 at PPG Paints Arena.
By Jacob Cheris
They need to start to move their legs in D ! That’s slow as heck 😭
With Marty out, there is literally 0 speed on that end. Rasmus is doing his best ….rest is quite done in that matter. That’s bad always re agility but with 42 out = god even that one bright spot is missing. We have no chance once opponents play fast and we allow too many breaks which Darcy will surely not magically safe as for now.
John despite I love his play this year just needs fast and well defending partner ( that’s why they are stuck together with Marty and should be like forever). Bear is not a D to pair with Rasmus = he lacks creativity to be able to support Rasmus ( who himself is not best in that this season so far, but In this combination it just does not work 😭) He does not have to match it = yet 1.st pair is exact example of combination Rasmus same as John needs = Bear is not that at all, he is too defensive for that. Marty is similarly focused but he has the puck moving and skating skills to play with John and cover for him. I don’t see that here . Not ideal even with Trevor but still better. At the same time I have to say I like what I have seen from Sandy at least defensively this year. Baby lefties are literally my only hope this team has a future on back end. Rest is either not getting better anymore or already washed. John keeps his level but makes too many turnovers and he had his Defensive problems since always..
Can we get rid of one right D and stop switching positions ….simply put Alex there = he will never grow if he plays only 1 in 8 games 🤦♀️ like honestly what is there to loose ? We are out at latest in 1 round ( with lot of luck involved)either way. Invest in future. He will make mistakes ? Surely – they all do, and ? Will he be worse than Jens or Edmunson. But long term that may pay dividends. And at least he is not old and has a desire to play.
Also we have signed Edmunson for how much 2.5? Why ? He did not bring massive toughness, he is another one not moving D, experience ? Ok did we need it ? Both baby Lefties are better D-man already. Did it take burden out of them of playing huge minutes ? Also not ! Marty is still best defensive D in first Shut down pair and Rasmus is still logical choice on Power play. As well as they still carry 1 and 2 pairing responsibilities ….so why ?
Money are just wasted here in this team ….
And I don’t wanna even talk about offence ….2nd line, Willy and McMichael are only bright spots. But we have signed injury prone Pacciotetty for not a little money 🤦♀️
They need to start to move their legs in D ! That’s slow as heck 😭
With Marty out, there is literally 0 speed on that end. Rasmus is doing his best ….rest is quite done in that matter. That’s bad always re agility but with 42 out = god even that one bright spot is missing. We have no chance once opponents play fast and we allow too many breaks which Darcy will surely not magically safe as for now.
John despite I love his play this year just needs fast and well defending partner ( that’s why they are stuck together with Marty and should be like forever). Bear is not a D to pair with Rasmus = he lacks creativity to be able to support Rasmus ( who himself is not best in that this season so far, but In this combination it just does not work 😭) He does not have to match it = yet 1.st pair is exact example of combination Rasmus same as John needs = Bear is not that at all, he is too defensive for that. Marty is similarly focused but he has the puck moving and skating skills to play with John and cover for him. I don’t see that here . Not ideal even with Trevor but still better. At the same time I have to say I like what I have seen from Sandy at least defensively this year. Baby lefties are literally my only hope this team has a future on back end. Rest is either not getting better anymore or already washed. John keeps his level but makes too many turnovers and he had his Defensive problems since always..
Can we get rid of one right D and stop switching positions ….simply put Alex there = he will never grow if he plays only 1 in 8 games 🤦♀️ like honestly what is there to loose ? We are out at latest in 1 round ( with lot of luck involved)either way. Invest in future. He will make mistakes ? Surely – they all do, and ? Will he be worse than Jens or Edmunson. But long term that may pay dividends. And at least he is not old and has a desire to play.
Also we have signed Edmunson for how much 2.5? Why ? He did not bring massive toughness, he is another one not moving D, experience ? Ok did we need it ? Both baby Lefties are better D-man already. Did it take burden out of them of playing huge minutes ? Also not ! Marty is still best defensive D in first Shut down pair and Rasmus is still logical choice on Power play. As well as they still carry 1 and 2 pairing responsibilities ….so why ?
Money are just wasted here in this team ….
The whole thing on defense. That’s one of my gripes is that GMBM keeps acquiring left handed third pairing defensemen, essentially blocking the progress of AA, LuJo, and our other left handed defenseman prospects, to include Aktell down in Hershey. If I had been in charge, I would have just let either AA or LuJo be the third pairing guy. Edmunson is this year’s edition. Now he had a decent career in the past, but he is not what the Caps needed at the present time.
My bigest gripe about GMBM is that for him the grass is always greener with other players than those that he has drafted. If that is the case then at draft time why not just trade all the picks for older players and never have any young players on the team and get a bunch of career minor leaguers to play in Hershey! It seens that he has no faith in the players that he drafts so why draft anyone? Tired of getting retreadsand players who are at the end of their career thinking that this team has to make the playoffs (only togo out in the first round). If the owner needs the playoff money so much then maybe it is time tosell the team to someone who will hire a GM who is more in touch with the NHL of today and be prepared for the NHL of tomorrow rather than doing the sam oldsame old, which by the way has not worked well since 2018.
Ovie was robbed!
To be sure.
Is that Faulkner Honda or Faulkner Suburu?
Joke. They advertise on Bears radio and their tagline is “To Be Sure.”
My favorite hockey commercial is on Stingrays radio. Dr Jason Hehr, an oral surgeon, knows all about missing teeth because he is a former Stingrays player.
Mike Matheson is on a tear. He’s on a trade board.
and just where is the money coming from?
Second goal.
I should not believe in conspiracy theories but yesterday’s overturned goal makes me wonder if someone in Toronto has an anti-Ovi agenda, whether pro-Gretzky or political. He’s had at least FOUR goals overturned this season.
Would Toronto have initiated this challenge if his name were Alexander Ovichenko who was either from Detroit, Michigan or Winnipeg, Manitoba, or even from Calgary or Edmonton and whose family had left Ukraine a century earlier?
Scary thought. Like a certain Wayne Gretzky who is said to have Belarusian, Polish, and maybe some Ukrainian roots, and whose grandfather had immigrated into Canada via the US from what was then the Russian Empire a century ago…
I hope this is not what’s driving this thing with Ovi’s cancelled goals now…
As soon as I heard that the Warroom was involved I told my friend Ovi will lose the goal — it won’t count. She asked what reason? I said it didn’t matter. It was Ovi. They don’t like Ovi, they don’t like Willy. When they get involved, you know it’s going against the Caps.
One day people will realize that Sandin is just an average player without physical attributes.
Totally agreeand also for the lifei of me can not figure out, other than that he is cheap, why Phillipsis here.
He has physical attributes, just not the ones that make him an effective NHL defenseman. He’s small, weak and incapable of figuring out how to cover anybody defensively. Those are all attributes… 🙂
I feel like I gave the kids a fair shake, but yeah he is a turd
Article incoming, I would guess.
But on Samsonov getting waived, it seems like some teams are places where no goaltender is a permanent solution. Last year’s solution never works this year. Toronto is one of those places.
There was Andersson but he’d burn out and have health issues so Toronto didn’t retain him
Then, there was Jack Campbell who was good for a while until he wasn’t and he then went to Edmonton and he’s in the minors now.
And then Samsonov, who was good for Toronto last year but this year, yikes.
Other similar places: Edmonton, Carolina, and New Jersey. For the Devils, this year, the advanced stats had better metrics for Wedgewood and Blackwood, who Jersey had moved on from, than they did for Schmid and Vanecek.
Maybe the secret to having a good goalie is having Benoît Allaire (or Dave Prior or Mitch Korn) as your goalie coach. (And we used to have two of those guys in our employ at different times.)
Lightning’s Vasy is 51st in Save% and 44th in GAA. That has been a rude shock to the team.
1. The biggest problem with the Caps D is the lack of Caps O, combined with many in that very same O group lacking any defensive capability/willingness. The Caps forwards can’t score, so the D is asked to be more aggressive and then they get caught up ice. Even if the forwards drop back to cover, it doesn’t always help, because many of them are inept at defending (and we know who they are).
Putting two of those types on a line creates a mini 5-on-3 power play for the opposition once the opponents gain control of the puck. The Caps ended up pinned in their own zone for long periods of time last night when the line with two of those types was on the ice. At best the next line gets stuck with a D-zone face-off, and then they have to try to fight their way out of the zone, which isn’t happening often or quickly enough.
2. Part of the reason the Caps struggle to get out of the zone is poor passing by pretty much everyone on both D and O, but mainly the D. Several comments on this post mention the D’s lack of foot speed, but that is not their main problem. No matter how fast or slow you skate, you will fail to break out of your own zone if you pass the puck to your opponent, to nobody in particular, well ahead or behind your teammates, or at best into your teammates’ skates. Most of today’s players do not tape their skates on, so passing to their skates is definitely not “tape to tape”.
3. The lack of effective defensive play among several of the forwards would be excusable if they were scoring. But they aren’t, so it isn’t.
4. The Caps currently have 2 effective lines: the 4th line, and whatever line Protas is on that night. Since neither of those lines is considered “the top six” this is a VERY big problem.
4.a. The fourth line is being driven by Malenstyn. In fact the entire team was driven by Malenstyn last night. He drove play in Hershey the last few years, and he is driving play in the NHL now. Hmmm, perhaps this is a pattern… or maybe even a trend…
4.b. Protas is also driving play all over the ice. It may not show up in the fancy stats, but it does in my eyeballs. Defensively, he gets his stick on tons of opponents’ passes or their attempts to stick-handle past him, creating turnovers. Then when he does gain control of the puck, he usually finds the absolute right guy to pass it to. He even manages to put it on their sticks periodically. Amazing.
5. Hunter Shepard is a very good goalie, despite the fact that he is not large and gives a terrible interview. The Caps should keep him on the roster and play him, and should dispose of one of the larger goalies on the roster, even though they give better interviews.
6. Points 4 and 5 above point to a fact that is apparently not known by the Caps’ management team: their top farm team won the AHL championship last year, and is absolutely dominating/destroying that league so far this year.
Despite 3 of last year’s top players basically carrying the DC team this year (only one of whom was a 1st round draft pick, and even he was picked late in the round and took time to figure things out), and a fourth (who was not drafted at all) having just stolen them a standings point last night, the team seems extremely reluctant to try any of the other guys who weren’t 1st round draft picks. The Bears have the AHL’s leading goal scorer, (who was not a 1st round pick) and several others (who were not first round picks) who seem to have a pretty good idea that the objective in hockey is to put the puck in the net the opponent is defending. Seems to me that the Caps would try to plug in a few of those guys, even if they are small, or slightly older, or whatever. Yeah, they have given Phillips a shot, and he’s shown nothing. NEXT UNDERSIZED AHL FORWARD, PLEASE REPORT TO DC!!!!!!
Maybe the next one or two or five will also show nothing. But the Caps can’t score anyway, and a lot of the guys who are supposed to score but don’t can’t defend either… On the other side of the equation, it’s possible that one or more of those Hershey guys will turn out to be the real deal, like McMikey, Protas, Malenstyn and Shepard have… Or not. But the only way to find out is to bring a few of them up, and send a few of the failures out of town.
Okay, diatribe over, for now. But I have been pretty quiet on this board for a while, despite the fact that watching this team is incredibly frustrating most of the time…
Unlike some Caps fans, I also want the Bears to win the Calder Cup and Stingrays win the Kelly Cup. So I don’t like hurting them to just maybe possibly help the Caps. But 23 of their players this season have scored for the Bears so they do have depth and the Caps could recall some without hurting the Bears’ drive for 13. But to me, the conversation starts with the word “waivers.” I remember losing The Hair to Winnipeg. I don’t want to see more players lost to the Caps organization. So before discussing anything else, I want to exclude those who can’t return to the Bears without going through waivers. Who does that give us?
Check out https://www.capfriendly.com/depth-charts/capitals in the Minors section.
Thanks. Forgot they had that little icon. Wow. CapFriendly has changed since I looked there a few weeks ago.
More players exempt than I thought. I count 11 not including goalies.
I wish Bear Hughes was still on a Hershey contract. Or a Caps contract. Can’t have enough Bears.
Ilya Samsonov on waivers today
PIT players licking their chops to face the Two-chokes-per-week, can’t score, half-asleep Caps – TUES 7:30 PM
Easily most overrated position in hockey – goalie…no position has more inconsistent stats from year to year. Many on this board were on GM for Sammy and Vanicek and one has been released and the other may be close. Vegas went thru 4 or 5 goalies their first year and made the Cup. Yeah yeah, Fleury, like Holtby and Kuemper have been inconsistent. They all are. DEFENSIVE structure is what is critical.
With regard to these amazing AHL players we have, they are mostly just that. And I don’t argue about Protas and Beck’s impact, but at NHL level, we need goal scorers.
Ovi’s worst start ever and he has over twice as many goals as each of these players; Protas, Beck, NAK, Phillips and Lappy….send them all down for all I care and let’s see what the others produce during the 2nd half. Hell, yeah, been liking CMM, but his numbers are not much to be excited about either. Oh yeah, lets throw in no defensive scoring to speak of…
I have no idea how Carbs has this team over .500
Lord knows that Oshi, Backy, Kuzy and even Ovi have given these kids the opening to take starting spots on top 2 lines and yet none really have other than CMM. And that is a stretch….need to go get a 1C, Stromme goes to 2C, CMM at 3c
Trade whoever you need to in order to unload Kuzy and get us what we need….pettersson!!
Fitting that today’s Outdoor “classic” game features over 1.7 billion dollars in open bribes (“Expansion fees”) for the two franchises SEA and VGK [Happy New Year Caps Fans!]
Can’t help it – I still love the NHL outdoor game. WAY cool-looking uniforms. Still need to abandon “One team wears White” idiot rule. ALL NHL games should feature really cool uniforms like the outdoor games. MLB gets it — Most franchises have 6-10 uniform variants, and there’s no stupid corporate or League restrictions. Washington Nationals have the best assortment in the game. Gotta agree with posters here that Caps Blue 3rd uni this season is a dud. Big time.
Morning skate shows #3 Jensen on the bench, Fehervary back in. Bear and Edmundson Pair Three. Fair enough. Eddy’s game has gotten better for me of late — he’s hitting and irritating opponents. Memo to Eddy: HIT and IRRITATE the Pittsburgh Hot Dogs – every shift. Extra noogies for Cindy herself. Also has Ovechkin at the QB position on Power Play. OK with me! Any variation until it works.
And Boo-hiss: “That Person” is still on the roster and playing tomorrow night. Big Split among NovaCapsFans posters. About half want Mr.-Non-Produce out of the lineup, preferably out of the organization. Other half loves the guy — he’s “better than his stats.” Jon and Staff: Maybe you can adjudicate this for us! I think the guy is one of the all-time franchise non-producers. Every Caps coach including Jimmy Anderson would have purged Mr.-Non-Produce long ago
FUN to see Joey D’Accord tormenting the Vega$ Golden Bribe. Daccord gave FITS to our Hershey Bears last Calder Cup Finals
The PWHL is starting up and I like two of their rule tweaks.
A PK goal will end the minor penalty just like a PP goal does. Makes turtling less attractive.
Game points are given out as follows: Teams will be awarded three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss and no points for a regulation time loss. I have been advocating for something similar — regulation win 3, OT win 2, SO win 1, and I wouldn’t give the loser anything. Encourage the teams to finish sooner.
Alas, they are going to the NHL OT unchanged. I was hoping that they would tweak that too. Shootout is five per side not three.
Cool ideas Novafyre! Wow — score a shorthanded goal and the penalty kill is over. Ratchets up the incentive to join a shorthanded rush
They’re going the wrong direction on shootout. Should be ONE round, followed by further rounds until a team wins a round and the game
Overtime should last 7.5 minutes – if necessary. Just plain fatigue will ensure lots of scoring in that final two minutes. No need to tinker with “going backwards”
But only on Titanic Idiot Bettman’s watch do we have the “Stop Goals At All Costs” video review. Now not only is “Toronto” and Bottmann himself empowered to squelch beautiful goals at will — But EVERY team is armed with a dozen (or more) notebook computers — and a whole staff of people — to negate an opponent’s goal. And it’s always on a hairline, 0.001 second, official’s judgment call. Offsides – high-stick – interference – trapezoid – too many men – or whatever. It’s all designed to take goals AWAY. Congratulations Idiot Bottmann! The finest sports executive in the world. You’ve wrecked the world’s premier team sport
How PASSIONATELY i Hate the Gory Bottmann goal-killing initiative. What can fans do to convince this moron to go away?