They may have been away for over a week, but the Caps took the ice last night as if no time had passed…and that’s not a good thing. Once again the Caps fell behind early (this time sinking into a 3-0 hole before the game was 20 minutes old), showed signs of life and the potential to claw back into the game, only to falter down the stretch.
Three Takeaways:
- Nice to see Alex Ovechkin getting on the scoresheet, and finally cracking the double-digit mark in goals…crazy that it’s something that was in question at this point in the season, but here we are. He was one of the team’s better players all night, seeming to have a bit of jump after that goal, which is always a good thing.
- In fact, the entire top trio of Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, and Tom Wilson was the team’s best last night (although they, like basically all the other forwards, were on for one of the Habs’ goals). In just under 15 minutes of five-on-five play, the trio out-attempted Montreal by a huge 22-8 margin and scored a goal, thanks to a beauty of a setup by Strome.
- When the Caps find their rhythm, they can be dangerous, and that was on display in the second period last night, when they dominated and did pretty much everything but score. The Caps outshot the Habs 13-3, put up 12 scoring chances to the Habs’ 3, and out-attempted the Habs 29-6. Unfortunately that whole scoring thing is something they needed to do, and didn’t…and then the rhythm went away in the third period as the Canadiens expanded their lead, twice. Womp womp.
They Said It: