Top 3 Capitals duds against Penguins
In seasons past at Stars and Sticks you’ll see us writing about the top 3 players after a big Washington Capitals win. We’ll call them either the top 3 heroes, winners or studs. But this is a different one after their 4-0 goose egg showing against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.
It was a competitive game in the opening 20 minutes. In the first 10 minutes of that contest the Capitals looked like the better team as they were applying the pressure. The final 50 minutes, it was “same old Caps” after a brutal season last year.
So here were the top 3 duds from last night’s loss with the second one being a complete shocker for my critics:
#3 Charlie Lindgren
It wasn’t that Charlie Lindgren was the reason the Caps lost the game last night but the way he played in the second and third period didn’t look good. After Darcy Kuemper and his wife welcomed their first child Thursday night, Lindgren knew he was very likely to get the nod for opening night.
Lindgren allowed three goals in the second period from the Penguins two biggest threats in Sidney Crosby (twice) and Evgeni Malkin. His night finished with 31 saves on 35 shots. Not a good night.
#2 Alex Ovechkin
I have a rule when it comes to writing about those who display greatness. It’s a rule I applied to my high school basketball coach who won back to back state titles and I also applied it to Alex Ovechkin.
Don’t write bad things about GOATs. That’s my rule.
Usually when Ovechkin makes a bad play or turns the puck over, I completely look the other way. When they ask me who turned the puck over my answer is gravity. But when Ovechkin accepts responsibility for the loss, it gives me the green light to include him in this even though I absolutely hate it.
In this case Ovechkin is on here due to the game’s first goal that completely shifted the momentum in the Penguins favor. What happened was the Caps failed to get the puck out of their own zone.
Ovechkin failed to get the puck on his stick and the failed attempt was taken advantage of by newcomer Erik Karlsson at the blue line. Three Caps kept their eyes on Rickard Rakell and by then it was too late when he found a wide open Malkin for the opening goal.
Ovechkin would say to the media:
“First of all, it was my bad on that goal. Kind of (go) off my stick to the blue line and went their way.”
As bad as that error was, Ovechkin showed his true leadership skills by accepting the blame.
#1 The power play
The number one dud of the night doesn’t go to a particular player but to an entire power play unit as a whole. Spencer Carbery was brought in to be the new head coach with a good track record as an assistant on the Toronto Maple Leafs where he turned Auston Matthews and company to a lethal power play.
The Caps and Penguins each had three power play chances on the night. The Penguins scored on two out of those three chances with both goals coming from Sidney Crosby. The Caps came up empty on all three of their chances.
Looking at the three power play chances, the Caps were only able to get TWO shots on goal with the man advantage the entire night. This was also credit to a Penguins defense that wasn’t afraid to block the shot. The Penguins had 22 blocks the entire night.
“I don’t think special teams was very good tonight. I thought their (PP) was snapping it around…and the penalty kill obviously put us in a hole.”
More. Capitals fall flat on opening night in the worst way possible. light
Overall it was a just a bad night all around. But all we can do is put it behind us and shift our focus to Monday night.