The Washington Capitals resumed their season last night with a game against the Division-rival Columbus Blue Jackets. On Sunday night, the League and its fans got to see what happens when a group of Mostly Stars gets together and chooses not to play defense, giving skilled opponents all the time and space they want or need: 29 goals happen.
Last night, Caps and Blue Jackets fans got to see what happens when a team of regular NHL players chooses not to play defense, giving skilled opponents all the time and space they want or need. Not quite 29 goals, but a pretty productive night for Columbus’ top line. No play better epitomized the lax defensive coverage from the Caps than Ryan Johansen’s goal. Take a look at the complete lack of defensive urgency:
The play starts off with a turnover in the offensive zone (and if you want to know why Barry Trotz prefers a more conservative, cycling approach to offense, here’s why) and it looks like Brooks Orpik is going to be caught defending a two-on-one. A great backcheck from John Carlson and Brooks Laich, however, negates that advantage for Columbus:
At this point the Caps have three defenders back against two attackers. It’s great defensive posture to be aggressive. Instead, Orpik makes no attempt to take away Nick Foligno‘s time and space, literally giving him a controlled zone entry and allowing him to set up below the goal line. Orpik never pressures wider than the faceoff dots, and pulls up as Foligno crosses the goal line. His stick is constantly in position to take away the cross-ice pass, which would be great if there were a cross-ice passing option for Foligno.
The Blue Jackets all catch up to the play and drive the net hard, ultimately ending up with four men down low. The Caps respond with numbers and collapse to the net. Things are looking alright, despite the easy transition and zone entry for the Jackets:
That’s pretty decent coverage. Eric Fehr is committing to Jared Boll, who is in the most dangerous scoring position. The red arrow shows you where Ryan Johansen is. He’ll score the goal in just a second:
In just a second things fall apart. Ward and Laich both swing to the left wing side. Fehr stays down in the slot (as a center, that’s probably his defensive responsibility there). Nobody stays with Johansen, and he makes the Caps pay.
The Caps have had their share of breakdowns this season, but lax defensive play and attention to detail in coverage (especially from the top defensive pair and putative shutdown line) can’t make the coaching staff happy. They’re now in the midst of a four-game losing streak, and things don’t get any easier with a tough match up against the Penguins (on the second night in a row, no less) coming up tonight. The Blue Jackets only have one line that can beat you, and the Caps couldn’t manage to stop it. The Penguins, it’s safe to say, have more than one line that can beat you (although it’s not quite as dire if Evgeni Malkin can’t go). The Caps are going to need to play with more defensive urgency if they want to turn things around tonight.