On Friday night hockey fans in Columbus, Ohio, were given
the pleasure of watching a hockey team that was cohesive, balanced, confident,
dominating, and efficient.
The other team was the Washington Capitals.
The Columbus Blue Jackets scored early, late and often, held
the Capitals to an inconsequential window dressing goal, and closed to within
two points of the fourth-place Capitals in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-1
win at Nationwide Arena.
John Carlson notched the only goal for the Caps, a floater
from the blue line through a maze of bodies almost nine minutes into the second
period. By that time, though, the Blue
Jackets already had three goals of their own.
James Wisniewski opened the scoring on a power play 12 minutes into the
first period, but the critical sequence came in the wrap-around from the first
period into the second. Cam Atkinson
scored in the last minute of the first period, and Ryan Johansen scored before
there were two minutes gone in the second.
The competitive portion of the evening was pretty much
over. The Caps managed just one shot on
goal after the Johansen goal at 1:44 until Carlson’s goal at 8:53 and never
threatened seriously thereafter.
Other stuff…
-- The Capitals and their multi-vitamin offense (“One-a-Day”)
managed a single goal for the fifth time in their last ten games.
-- The Caps have lost four in a row. Nicklas Backstrom does not have a point in
any of those games. The Caps have eight
losses in their last ten games.
Backstrom has two points in those eight games. Coincidence?
-- The Caps did not have a power play goal. That makes five games in a row without one,
the longest games drought in Adam Oates’ tenure as head coach. The Caps are 0-for-21 in 23:59 of power play
time in that stretch. Alex Ovechkin, who
has not had a power play goal in 14 straight games after drawing a blank
against Columbus, is on an 0-for-12 shooting streak over these last five games
and 0-for-28 since he scored a power play goal against Philadelphia in a 5-2
loss on December 17th.
-- How’s that whole “three-goaltender” thing working? Braden Holtby gave up five goals on 11 shots
in his last full game, Michal Neuvirth allowed four goals in his last
appearance, and Philipp Grubauer was nicked for three goals on 14 shots before
being relieved by Holtby in the second period of this game. If the object is to play the hot goaltender, the Caps might think about Riley Gill.
-- The Caps allowed two power play goals to Columbus. That is the eighth time that Washington
allowed two or more power play goals in 35 games since they ended a streak of
eight straight games without allowing a power play goal in early November. In those 35 games the Caps’ penalty killers
are 93-for-123 (75.6 percent).
-- It is an unfortunate fact of life with this club that
nothing and no one epitomizes the problems the Caps have on the blue line more
than Connor Carrick. It’s a bad place
for a 19-year old rookie to be, but here it is.
He was on ice for both Columbus power play goals last night. On the first, not only could he not move
Nathan Horton from the top of the crease, where Horton was screening Grubauer, he
was barely within a stick length of him (not that his partner, Karl Alzner was
any closer on the 4-on-3 power play). On
the second power play goal, Carrick was a half-second too late stepping across
to interrupt a shot by Mark Letestu, who broke past the rest of the Caps…uh, “defense?” Carrick should be learning his craft in
Hershey, not playing the penalty kill on a bad penalty killing team, but the club is so thin on defense (no, Jack Hillen returning to the
lineup is not going to cure that), Carrick is actually a good option based on merit. He is better than a lot of options. That’s not to say “best “ option. We might expect to see Steve Oleksy back on
the right side of the third pair soon.
-- Carrick seemed to be the only guy who had much
punch. Well, punch”es.” He had his first NHL fight, courtesy of Matt
Calvert. It was not a heavyweight duel,
but it was energetic. We had it a draw. By that time, though, the matter was settled,
the Blue Jackets having compiled what would be their 5-1 margin of victory.
-- Martin Erat had an assist. That makes 16 assists for the season. Despite the fact that he has played in only
40 of 48 games and averages only 13:48 in ice time per game (only two and a
half minutes of 5-on-5 time per game with Alex Ovechkin, on average), he is
fourth among forwards in assists. What
might have been if he was a regular scoring line winger for this team on more
nights.
-- The top line had eight shots on goal, Ovechkin had seven
of them. The top line had 13 shot
attempts, Ovechkin had 12 of them.
Either Ovechkin isn’t getting Brooks Laich or Mikhail Grabovski the
puck, or the other guys are looking only to feed Ovechkin, or… maybe this isn’t
really working, either.
-- We thought 30 shots might be the key to beating Bobrovsky
(60 might not have done it with the way the Caps’ penalty kill was working),
and after the first period, when the Caps had 12 shots on goal, it looked as if
they were doing a good job of tenderizing Bobrovsky. But the Caps managed only 15 shots over the
last 40 minutes, only 12 after Carlson’s goal.
-- How bad was it?
Marcus Johansson was whistled for a hooking penalty at 5:39 of the
second period. That broke a string of
833:37 to start the season without having taken a penalty.
In the end…
This road trip has already gone poorly, is already
unsuccessful, having lost the first two legs of the three-game trip. It is not going to get better, the Caps
having to travel to Madison Square Garden on Sunday night to face the New York Rangers in a game to be
broadcast nationally. The Caps hang on
to a playoff spot by the tape on their sticks, one point over Ottawa and New
Jersey, two over Columbus and Detroit.
It is not as if there is one part of the game sinking the
Caps these days. They are 3-5-5 in their
last 13 games. Over those 13 games they have not been able
to score (2.31 per game), have not been able to defend (3.00 per game), have
been weak on the power play (5-for-33, 15.2 percent), and have been weaker on
the penalty kill (28-for-39, 71.8 percent).
Their leading scorers aren’t scoring (Ovechkin is 5-3-8, Backstrom is
3-4-7), the goaltenders are not tending to business (2.88, .907). It was all on display in all its grisly
aspects against the Blue Jackets (even though here we issue the required
statement that not all of Grubauer’s goals allowed were his fault, a statement
that is in fact true).
This is a team that has lost to the worst team in the league
– twice – over that 13 game stretch and has won once in six road games. With six road games in their next seven, the
Caps might have arrived at the critical point of their season, because at the
moment one can make an argument that it is the Caps, not the Buffalo Sabres,
that is the worst team in the league.
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