Photo: X/@Capitals
The Washington Capitals began the second half of the season with a date with the Anaheim Ducks. Unlike the first meeting between these two teams, which was a high-scoring affair, Tuesday’s contest was low-scoring and uneventful.
Ethan Bear scored his first goal as a Capital and it turned out to be the game-winner. Darcy Kuemper was phenomenal with a 24-save shutout.
Alex Ovechkin missed his third straight game due to a lower-body injury. Meanwhile, Alex Alexeyev was inserted into the lineup for the first time in 24 games.
Here is how it went down.
LINES AND PAIRINGS
Max Pacioretty – Dylan Strome – T.J. Oshie
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Hendrix Lapierre – Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Anthony Mantha
Beck Malenstyn – Nic Dowd – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Alex Alexeyev – Nick Jensen
Joel Edmundson – Ethan Bear
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Scratches: Alex Ovechkin (lower), Sonny Milano (upper), Rasmus Sandin (upper), Trevor van Riemsdyk, Matthew Phillips, Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
PERIOD 1
The Capitals controlled play for the entire first period of play, holding the Ducks to just three shots on goal. Joel Edmundson and Ross Johnston got in a tilt at the 9:14 mark of the first.
#ALLCAPS EDMUNDSON FIGHT W. pic.twitter.com/w3ZnieEj6k
— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) January 17, 2024
Ryan Strome and Anthony Mantha each got late matching roughing minors, which resulted in four-on-four play.
With 37.8 seconds left, Ethan Bear gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead for his first goal as a Capital. T.J. Oshie and Nick Jensen had the helpers. With the assist, Oshie extended his point streak to three games.
Bear’s first goal as a Cap comes in the final minute of the first! pic.twitter.com/aIkMAtF0KY
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2024
Washington outshot the Ducks 9-3 in the opening 20.
#Caps lead 1-0 after 20. Good period for the good guys, leading in 5v5 shot attempts, 14-6 and xGF .55 to .26. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/pu3F0XR5R7
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 17, 2024
PERIOD 2
Each team had a power play and did not convert. The Capitals outshot the Ducks 11-9 in the middle frame. Things started to open up in the period but Kuemper and John Gibson stood tall.
PERIOD 3
The Ducks started to turn up the heat, but Kuemper once again stood his ground. He made an outstanding save on Alex Killorn on the rebound with the goalie pulled. Tom Wilson sealed things off with an empty net tally with 57.6 seconds left in regulation. Martin Fehervary and Nic Dowd had the assists.
Good to know we’ve got good insurance pic.twitter.com/mplpmx8maz
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 17, 2024
Up Next
The Capitals will be back in action on Jan. 18 when they host the St. Louis Blues.
By Jacob Cheris
Capitals Postgame Audio
OK. The one-goal wonders win an ugly game against tired team
Good Thing: No D-57 whom I count as no longer an NHL-caliber defenseman. Al Alexeyev at least snarls and hits people. Hasn’t the vaguest notion what to do with a hockey puck though
Good Thing: Somehow the Caps ugly turnover festival (yet another one!) didn’t turn into a 3-goal loss
Good Thing: A defenseman goal. Good on You, E. Bear
Good Thing: Continues the Caps’ season on Life-support
Bad Thing: Not even a hint of scoring. Just disgusting. Coaching staff holds themselves in high esteem. I don’t.
Bad Thing: Caps FOREVER hanging on for dear life. This roster continues to have NO PRAYER of post-season success, or even making the playoffs
Bad Thing: Nothing nothing nothing nothing from the GM level. Nothing to see here, fans. Everything is just peachy
Bad Thing: Caps were LUCKY! Even the proverbial Broken Clock is correct, twice a day
Will this garbage ever end? We won’t get too many more opposition turds like tired Anaheim. I’m all mentally prepared for yet another disaster on Thursday vs. St. Louis.
I’m with Novafyre and several others: What does this character “MacLellan” do for a living? Caps $ukk.
Oh – and the “It’s all Ovechkin’s Fault” crew and “Sit him for three weeks” bunch – New Lows for internet imbecility
i agree with most of what you said, but what’s different with 8 out of the lineup. still no offense yet they’re 2-1 over a 3 game stretch (2 of which were vs. the best team in our division)
Hold the faith! This is going to be an ugly season – period. I can hardly stand to watch that offense BUT these young players are seeing how to win without a lot of offensive talent and better seasons are ahead.
This is the most aggressively negative comment lol. Every “good thing” on your list is like “for once they didn’t mess this thing up that they always mess up”
They played pretty well! It was fun to watch? You do you, but, if I disliked a team this much I just wouldn’t watch them
you need a hug
Can’t recall too many turnovers… Caps played a pretty disciplined game. Just what the doctor ordered, after the pretty nerve-wracking 5-4 last time, and Anaheim’s preceding 5-4 comeback victory over the Cats 🙂
Offense was not quite clicking. But Gibson was good. And the Caps controlled the game.
Another 1 g win… We need a trade… need to score more so how about Tarasenko? Gaarland? How was AA?
AA was good and looked not rusty. Carbs said he has worked his butt off and not complained and it seems to have paid off for him. I think what we might be seeing with him is kind of what we see with all Caps prospects, a slow cook. MCM was in and out all last year and the year before to the frustration of the fans but look at him now? Maybe they will rely or start him on the 3rd pair after trade deadline selloff or next year. I think they are just evaluating if they will be comfortable moving one or two of the starters at the deadline. Just my two cents. 😉
Ahoy Mark Eiben! Excellent analysis
I liked Al Alex’s game too. Many Hershey-ites, like McM and Hendrix starting to “figure it out.” Slowly! But learning the NHL game seems to be more difficult than ever. Never fast enough for hot-head fans like me
So: Let’s Go Caps! All will be forgive if you can smoke STL later this week
Thanks. Yep don’t sleep on the Blues! They are an even match for the Caps and have some dangerous offensive players. If they can lock them down and win, I’ll will be even more impressed. One fun note- I expect Lindgren to play and he was the under the radar prospect the Caps pro scouts wanted at the deadline a few years back and it’s looking like an excellent pickup. Will Lindy be dialed in to pay back his old team??
what scares me is: The longer we stay in this muddled playoff mix, the more likely it is that GMBM is a buyer and prolongs the agony of defeat. This aging roster is not built for the long haul and he is stuck between making the playoffs and making the team younger faster and better over the coming years. Getting a rental and eking into the playoffs cannot be the philosophy, but I fear it may be and it will only make us worse over the next 3-5 years.
oh but it IS the philosophy. It’s only about playing games so Ovi can beat Gretz and Teddy can make a few more bucks out of the marketing. They (ownership and mgmt) don’t care about the team, only about hawing Ovi. And tey will destroy this team (well on their way) in doing just that.
What a baby.
so you post as && on RMNB. You’re the moron here, I’m stating facts
should read 77 not &&
“what a baby”. troll….how about some valid points and less 4 year old crap?
Well, put yourself in any veteran Caps players shoes. They all have (like all veteran teams) been through the long grind of a regular season. They all want a playoff series where each game is very important and they are fighting for each other and blocking shots etc…looking for a few more chances at playoff glory. All of them have the money. They want the playoff glory. A rebuild is inevitable and coming soon. The way I see it is as long as they don’t trade a 1st rounder or a top prospect, they can trade or add whatever they want for these last chances.
I mean I see your thoughts, but that’s the rub eh? the “as long as they don’t trade a 1st rounder or a top prospect”…which is what tends to happen when a marginal GM is trying to get a rental to get them into the playoffs where they’ll most likely be 1 and done anyway right? the sky isn’t falling…YET. but it damn sure looks like it might soon be based on things this guy has done in the past.
I only remember him trading a 1st back in 2017 for Shatenkirk when they were a Presidents trophy winning team. Otherwise it’s been 2 nd and 3rd rounders which I personally don’t mind b Mac doing.
read “as long as they don’t “and also the part about a prospect….i get what you’re saying, but he’s desperate and we need every pick we can get right now is all i’m saying
I just try not to look at those things in a vacuum. Emphasis on try. I get pissed at the org too sometimes. There are many ways to acquire players so if he trades a 1st rounder (he won’t), then you can still get players by regular trades, ala Mantha/Vrana, or free agency.
Hey Jon – This would be an interesting topic for an article. You’ve done ones reviewing our prior draft picks over the prior 10 years (if I recall correctly) and how they panned out. How about an article covering all of BMac’s trade deadline moves and how they panned out? (My apologies if you’ve already done this and I’m just not remembering – I am getting to that age)
Today’s theme – Caps win, everyone pissed about it.
no! No one is pissed about it but a win doesn’t fix the serious problems that exist on this team. Stop being a fool.
Current problems have nothing to do with the vets. It was always the same. This team was never managed at the same level as other dynasties. Only one cup in Ovie era says it all. But also so many early exits, so many mismanaged prospects, and so many bad draft picks. Look at the Forsberg deal and all others down that slope. Even if this team got rid of all the vets, and played for the lottery, there’s no guarantee that they would do any better. There are plenty of teams in the NHL who are worse or have been mediocre for years. Right now this team is on an up swing. It needs a couple of big pieces to contend. I’m hoping GMBM can pull it off, but it can take up to 3-5 years.
“upswing”????