Tonight began a six-game span of playing at home for the Capitals after going 2-0-2 to start the season on the road. Unfortunately tonight also started a stretch of at least four games without some big guns, as Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kunzetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov are all out following COVID protocol. That’s elite scoring, elite playmaking, defensive stability, and the starting goaltending not on the ice. No matter what team it is, missing that much talent will be a tough trial.
Despite that loss, and an in-game injury, the Capitals were able to pull out a win via shootout – and grabbing any points while this shorthanded is a huge plus.
Plus: it was going to be for Tom Wilson, who was just so dominant again and has been the Capitals best player in this early season. But the hockey gods stepped in, and Wilson left early in the third period with an injury that hopefully isn’t too bad… because the Capitals desperately need him.
Minus: The fourth line and bottom pair seemed to get outplayed throughout the game, especially the first period where seemingly every time they were on the ice they let up a scoring chance against. That’s actually somewhat odd for that group, which includes Carl Hagelin, Nic Down, Garnett Hathaway, Nick Jensen, and Zdeno Chara.
Ten more notes on the game:
Winning tonight’s game was huge for the Capitals who are still trying to learn a new system with little practice AND now playing without some big names. It’s probably going to be ugly for the next little bit but as long as they are pulling points from somewhere they should be able to keep pace with the league.
Next up, it’s the Sabres again, Sunday at 3PM.