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Capitals vs. Hurricanes: How the Game Was Lost

Nov 3, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren (79) reaches for the puck with defenseman Martin Fehervary (42) and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker (26) at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images

Last night was the back half of the Washington Capitals’ first back-to-back of the season, and it showed. You could clearly tell which team played yesterday and travelled last night, and which team hadn’t played since Thursday. The Carolina Hurricanes were relentless, and the Capitals were just trying to keep their heads above water. The Caps put up a decent fight, but they ran out of gas.

While this was not Charlie Lindgren’s finest outing in a Caps’ sweater, he gave his teammates the best chance he could. He made some solid saves, especially while the Canes were on the power play about halfway through the second period. Unfortunately, he also let in a few stinkers in that middle frame. He did recover nicely in the third period, saving all 13 shots he faced. All in all, he stopped 40 of 43 shots (.930 SV%).

A perfect example of the Caps fizzling out in last night’s game: they only managed 21 shots on goal through 60 minutes. Oddly enough, because slow starts have historically been Washington’s enemy, they had the most shots in the first period with 10. They had a whopping five shots on goal in the second period, and only six in the third. Looking at these even-strength shot maps side by side is…rough.

The game wasn’t all bad though, because Alex Ovechkin scored his fifth goal in four games and the 860th of his career. Any game with an Ovi goal right now is a win, and the fact that it came on the power play makes it even better. Don’t let that little spark of life on the man-advantage fool you though, the rest of the power play last night was still pretty brutal.

Brandon Duhaime also found the back of the net for the Caps, scoring his second goal of the season alongside his fourth line pals. There have been plenty of things to be excited about through Washington’s first 11 games of the season, and the chemistry this new-look fourth line has is one of them. The Caps added six new skaters this summer, and sometimes adding that many new pieces can do more harm than good in the short-term because adjustments need to be made (see: Nashville this year). That doesn’t seem to be the case for the Capitals’ lineup, fourth line included.

One last thing to note from last night was a swap at forward—Sonny Milano in for Jakub Vrana on the third line. At this point, which winger makes more sense here? Can the Caps even make that decision yet? Milano had a great season with the Caps last year, but is there anything he does that Vrana doesn’t do either just as well or better? Feel free to discuss in the comments below!

Talking Points