After the pomp of Tuesday’s game between the Washington Capitals and Winnipeg Jets — Alex Ovechkin was honored before the contest for scoring his 700th goal and added number 701 minutes into the game before finally tallying the shootout winner — the Caps and Jets headed up to Manitoba for a more monotonous affair.
After a six-goal contest (with a few more shootout tallies) 48 hours earlier, just three pucks hit the back of net Thursday. None of those goals were in favor of the Capitals as the Jets took the game 3-0.
Plus: The Capitals are still turning the puck over too much, but despite the loss the Capitals are showing signs of improvement with crisper play and fewer odd-man rushes against. The win over the Jets on Tuesday gave the Caps their first two-game win streak since January, and they very easily could have made it three had they not run into a very hot goaltender.
Minus: Whatever else has gone wrong for the Caps throughout the season, the offense has seemingly always come through… but not tonight, as for the first time in 2020, Washington was shutout.
More notes on the game:
This was not a terrible game. The Jets played well, the Capitals hit a couple of posts and faced an excellent performance in net. Many of the problems that have plagued them over the last few months have been cleaned up despite the 3-0 defeat.
The Capitals head up to Minnesota to face a Bruce-less Wild Sunday.