It’s hard to predict what kind of game you’re going to get from a team the night after a big, emotional win over a fierce rival on their home ice – either they use the victory to create momentum and carry over the good feelings into another win, or they look listless and disjointed for most of the game.
Sadly, last night was more of the latter, as the Caps fell into a 2-0 hole early (an ongoing trend that is no less troubling in Game 36 than it was in Game 1), clawed their way back twice only to fall apart down the stretch. A four-point game that ended up with no points for the good guys is not what you want to see as we near the halfway mark of the season.
Four Takeaways:
- The Max Pacioretty era of Caps’ hockey got off to a somewhat inauspicious start, as he took a minor penalty that resulted in a goal against and was on the ice for one of the Devils’ goals in just under 12 minutes of ice time. Not a huge deal, nor is it unexpected, as he hasn’t played a real game in almost a year and its expected that he’ll have some rust to shake off, but still.
- Here’s something that feels almost surreal to write: John Carlson snapped a 32-game goalless drought with his power-play tally in the second period, his first PPG of the season. Nice to see that go in, and nicer to see him actually hitting the net for a change, with four shots on goal last night (his most in almost exactly a month). A very un-Carlson-esque first half for the blueliner, at least in terms of offense.
- This loss isn’t solely on the shoulders of Hunter Shepard, but he didn’t look comfortable most of the night, and at least two of the six goals given up were ones he’d probably like back – particularly that back-breaker of a go-ahead goal that would eventually be the game-winning goal, less than a minute after his team had tied things up. Get better soon, Charlie.
- It might be time for Nick Jensen to take a seat for a game or two.
They Said It: