📸: @majortaylor1/X
The Washington Capitals headed into New Jersey looking to extend their winning streak to four games on Thursday night. The game was practically another must-win, as every game left on the team’s schedule is.
Cody Glass and Dawson Mercer scored two quick goals to put the Devils in front early in the first period. The Capitals responded with two quick ones of their own from Cole Hutson and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Dougie Hamilton then powered a point drive past Logan Thompson to give New Jersey a lead after 20 minutes.
Jack Hughes extended that lead with the finish on a 2-on-1 chance in the second period. Hughes then added another goal in the third. Tom Wilson pulled the Capitals back within two soon after. Jesper Bratt, touchdown, New Jersey. Mercer finds the empty net.
Devils beat Capitals 7-3.
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- The Capitals have been playing some horrific defense “lately” and just getting by with some hot shooting and goaltending. The first period was another example of that, although the goaltending couldn’t get them out of that one. Spencer Carbery employs a man-to-man defensive-zone system, and it drives me insane, and I don’t know why I haven’t written more about it. Very few teams in today’s NHL do the same, and there’s a good reason for it. Watch the absolute mess that is the Capitals trying to defend New Jersey’s three goals in that period, and you’ll understand why.
- Really good to see Cole Hutson leading the way offensively in the first period, scoring his second career goal and sparking other dangerous chances. Would really like to see him leaned on more instead of Rasmus Sandin and Martin Fehervary getting sent out every other shift and giving up 658 goals. That pairing has not worked for a few weeks now, yet the Capitals’ coaching staff keeps going back to it.
- I’m in a bad mood tonight, so jumping online to learn that this was an ESPN+ only game didn’t help. Just means we get a later start for exactly zero reason, and elementary coverage that no one wants from people who watch the Capitals maybe a handful of times each season. If they put an ounce of effort into covering these games, maybe I’d feel different, but it feels like ESPN treats the NHL more like a requirement than an opportunity.
- The Capitals were certainly better in the second period, but they lost their shooting touch and then got burned on New Jersey’s one lone big chance in the frame. I would have pulled Logan Thompson after he allowed that goal. Even though you can’t say he was bad in this game, it didn’t seem like he was seeing the puck all too well.
- Jakob Chychrun getting lost in no-man’s-land helped the Devils coast to their goal in the second. I thought Chychrun was brutal the entire game. Just falling all over himself, whiffing on every puck fed to him, slow, etc. He hasn’t been great since play resumed after the Olympics.
- Another guy who has just not had it recently and pretty much the entire season is Dylan Strome. Plays were just dying on his stick left and right throughout this game. More than a little concerned about his year.
- I really don’t love the mix the Capitals have down the middle overall. Feels like they need to reassess that position this summer. Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and the incoming Ilya Protas aren’t exactly fleet of foot, and it’s tough to play teams in today’s NHL when your center is getting lapped around the ice every other shift. The team has been saying they need an injection of speed for like three years at this point, though, and they just keep pushing that addition back every season, so who knows. Maybe by 2035.
- The lack of meaningful in-game adjustments from the coaching staff has killed me this season. No, sitting Hendrix Lapierre and constantly putting Anthony Beauvillier back with Strome and Alex Ovechkin isn’t it. What about Chychrun’s game tonight would tell you he should get the first shift on that third-period power play over Hutson? Why are Fehervary and Sandin still together? Why is Ivan Miroshnichenko riding the pine?
- Why did the Capitals waste draft capital to acquire David Kampf? Who knows.
- I don’t know if you could tell, but this game was utterly frustrating for me to watch. It’s clear there are many good things about this team, but there may be more glaringly bad things. Those bad things have been covered up by puck luck lately, which I’ve been constantly harping on in my morning numbers posts. I think a ton needs to change in the summer. This was supposed to be the step-forward year, and it feels like a two-step-backward year.
No Joe B or Locker tonight, so here’s this photo the Capitals posted of Miro.
The Capitals will be back at home on Saturday when they’ll host the Buffalo Sabres. I don’t buy into the Sabres hype. That’s a winnable hockey game.
