SAD NEWS: Washington Capital lose another one as streak reaches six and….
Capitals lose another one as streak reaches six and playoffs could slip away: numbers for the morning after.
The Washington Capitals have picked possibly the worst time of the season to not win for six games in a row. The Ottawa Senators were the latest team they fell to, 3-2 in overtime on Sunday evening.
- The Capitals keep playing this style of game where they give up a billion shot attempts and just hope to limit the quality of the chances for their opposition. While that strategy is working on the stat sheet, it’s not producing standings points which is kinda the goal right now. It’s also just zero fun to watch your favorite team not have the puck for 75 percent of the game. Ottawa out-attempted Washington 61-39 at five-on-five. The Capitals did hold a +3 advantage in high-danger chances but was that really worth it? I don’t have an answer process-wise but the final score sorta does.
- Ivan Miroshnichenko played a total of 6:04 of ice time in the loss and when he was out there that whole fourth line got absolutely clobbered. The Capitals didn’t record a single-shot attempt in those minutes. They need to just send Miro down and get him back involved in the Hershey setup before the AHL playoffs if this is seriously the role he’s going to be playing. I also feel bad that Mike Sgarbossa isn’t going to get his shot with the Bears in the postseason this spring because his current role on the Capitals is also entirely confusing. Just 6:46 of total ice time for him.
- Charlie Lindgren returned to the starter’s net after Darcy Kuemper’s excellent performance against Carolina. Lindgren made 18 saves in the loss. Per MoneyPuck, he allowed 0.61 more goals than expected.
- Alex Ovechkin didn’t score to get to 30 goals on the year but he tried his best. Ovi fired 15 shot attempts and recorded seven individual scoring chances.
- The Capitals, with their 83 standings points, currently sit behind the Pittsburgh Penguins (83 points) and Detroit Red Wings (84 points) for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. All three teams have five games remaining. Detroit is in control of their own destiny.
- Really bad news on Rasmus Sandin as Spencer Carbery said he’s expected to miss some time after that dirty, late-period hit. Sandin only took nine shifts, playing 7:09 of ice time before being taken out of action. The ice time isn’t really why I’m giving this its own bullet though. It’s here mainly because I really don’t love Parker Kelly getting zero retribution for that play and want to complain about it. Where is the locker room to step up and make Kelly respond for an unneeded play that appears to have potentially, seriously injured Sandin? The Capitals don’t play Ottawa again until next season. I’m sure the answer from some will be that they want to focus on the two points and don’t want to go shorthanded but I don’t think you need to put yourself in the box with your response.