Dylan Strome gave an interesting quote after the Capitals’ 4-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday:
For the first nine minutes of Washington’s tilt against the Florida Panthers on Thursday, things were playing out just as he described; Washington, a team that has consistently controlled the larger share of scoring chances, was peppering Panthers goalie Daniil Tarasov as they took a sizeable lead on the shot counter. They were finally rewarded when a long range shot from Rasmus Sandin clipped Brandon Duhaime’s stick, heading past Tarasov as the Caps took a one point lead. There was hope that this would be the night where things would finally click for the team as their on-ice results would match their underlying numbers. A hope that would be dented less than a minute later:
Washington would continue to get plenty of volume on Tarasov. Volume that Florida wouldn’t need as they would add another tally to take a 2-1 lead shortly after the Caps killed their first power play opportunity of the game. A Jakob Chychrun tripping penalty would put their maligned penalty killing unit back on the ice again for what would be another successful kill. A Too Many Men call just seconds after Chychrun exited the sin bin would have DC down a man for a third time in the period, this time flying too close to the sun:
Justin Sourdif would send home a terrific pass from Chychrun early in the third period to give the Caps life. A defensive breakdown minutes later that left Sam Reinhart with plenty of real estate in front of Logan Thompson would rescind said life. A second power play goal deep into a double minor called on Nic Dowd would put away the Caps for good, creating a three goal lead that proved to be all she wrote for Washington as they dropped the seventh of their last nine games.
Per NaturalStatTrick, Washington tilted the ice in their favor throughout the night, posting expected goal shares over 60% in the 2nd and 3rd periods. They put up thirty more shot attempts in 5v5 play than the Panthers did. Analytically, they were the better team. Unfortunately, as has been the case for many of Washington’s opponents this year, Florida was the more opportunistic team, striking quickly after Washington’s first two goals and adding a couple of power play markers that felt backbreaking. In a vacuum, this wasn’t nearly as bad as some of their other losses have felt this season.
However, given the recurring themes we’ve seen so far this year, it harkens back to what Strome said on Tuesday; It sure would be nice to get results at some point.