Eastern Conference Quarterfinal -- Game 3: Capitals 6 - Panthers 1

Hockey returned to Washington on Saturday afternoon as the Capitals hosted the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of their opening round series.  The Caps were looking to go a game up on the Panthers, who tied the series at a game apiece in Game 2 with a convincing 5-1 win.  Despite allowing the game’s first goal in this contest, the Capitals returned the favor and dominated in a 6-1 win to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

First Period…

Florida wasted little time victimizing Ilya Samsonov in goal, who was replacing Vitek Vanecek, who started the first two games of the series.  Jonathan Huberdau broke the seal on the game when he skated down the left side and snapped a shot past Samsonov’s glove, a shot that looked of the savable kind.  Florida on top, 1-0, at the 2:45 mark.

Washington was awarded the game’s first power play when Eetu Luostarinen was gated for holding with 6:53 gone in the period.  The Caps failed to record a shot on goal in the man advantage and remained down a goal.

The Caps went a man short late in the period when Anthony Mantha took a cross-checking penalty at the 17:30 mark.  The Caps escaped further damage, allowing one inconsequential shot, and ended up with a power play chance of their own after the Florida man advantage, MacKenzie Weegar going off for holding the stick at 19:27 of the period.  T.J. Oshie made the Panthers pay with just 9.2 seconds left in the period when he set up shop in front of Bobrovsky just in time to redirect an Alex Ovechkin shot from the right point to get the Caps on the board.  The teams went to their locker rooms tied, 1-1.

-- Washington outshot the Panthers, 12-9, in the period and out-attempted them, 22-15.

-- Nicklas Backstrom had three shots on goal and four attempts to lead the team in both categories for the period.

-- The Caps were credited with 21 hits in the period, Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson with four apiece.

-- Washington needs better faceoff performance from their top centers – Backstrom was 1-for-4, Evgeny Kuznetsov was 0-for-4.

Second Period…

Martin Fehervary took a tripping penalty 2:42 into the period to give Florida their second power play of the afternoon.  The Caps killed off the penalty, allowing a single shot on goal.  The Caps, however, went right back to the penalty kill, Justin Schultz going off at 5:01 for interference.  The Caps killed off this one as well, again holding the Panthers getting a pair of shots on goal.

The aplomb with which the Caps killed penalties was rewarded when Anthony Mantha cut through the left-wing circle and tried backhanding the puck past a Florida defender and on goal.  The puck was rerouted to Marcus Johansson, who calmed the bouncing puck just enough to lift a backhand shot over Bobrovsky from the 4ight-wing circle to make it 2-1, Caps, 9:51 into the period.

Washington had a chance to add to their lead when they were given their third power play of the game, Anthony Duclair sent off for interference at the 11:45 mark.  The Caps failed to score on their only shot on goal with the man advantage, and it remained a one-goal game.

It became a two-goal game when Trevor van Riemsdyk got on the board late in the period.  Anthony Mantha got the play started with effective forechecking, then feeding Nicklas Backstrom as he was tripped to the ice.  Backstrom’s shot attempt was foiled, but the puck skittered to Marcus Johansson at the goal line extended to Bobrovsky’s left.  He fed van Riemsdyk in the left-wing circle, and he fired a shot past a pile of Panther defenders and Bobrovsky to make it 3-1, 18:49 into the period.

The Caps got a late power play when Anthony Mantha and Sam Bennett mixed it up after a whistle.  Mantha and Bennett were assessed coincidental roughing penalties, but Bennett got an extra two for tripping at 19:34 of the period.  The Caps did not convert on the first 26 seconds of the man advantage but would have the remainder carrying over into the third period with fresh ice.

-- Florida out-shot the Caps, 13-7, in the period and out-attempted them, 34-11.

-- Hitting has been a thing in this series, the teams combining for 66 hits through two periods.  Ovechkin led the team with six through 40 minutes.

-- John Carlson led the team with 14:50 in ice time through two periods; Connor McMichael was at the other end with 4:42.

-- T.J. Oshie was 5-for-7 on faceoffs through two periods.

Third Period…

The game went uneventful – a good thing for the Caps – until Jonathan Huberdeau was penalized for interference at 8:52 of the period.  Alex Ovechkin made them pay when he took a Conor Sheary feed from the other side of the ice without a Panther defender in sight and one-timed a shot under Bobrovsky’s blocker to make it 4-1, 10:25 into the period.

John Carlson added an empty net goal from below his own goal line at the 15:40 mark to make it 5-1.

The Caps went to another power play when the Panthers were whistled for too many men on the ice.  The Caps applied pressure but did not solve Bobrovsky on the man advantage.  The Caps did add a cherry to the top of the sundae, though, when Garnet Hathaway converted a rebound of a Johan Larsson shot at 19:18 of the period to close out the scoring in the Caps’ 6-1 win.

Other stuff…

-- The Caps outshot the Panthers, 31-30, while Florida out-attempted the Caps, 65-51.

-- Nicklas Backstrom led the Caps with five shots on goal and six attempts.

-- Anthony Mantha recorded his first career multi-point playoff game (0-2-2), fourth of eight career playoff games with points.

-- For the third straight game, the teams combined for more than 90 hits (94 in this one).  Alex Ovechkin, Lars Eller, and Garnet Hathaway had six hits apiece among the 44 credited to the Caps.

-- Dmitry Orlov and Nick Jensen tied for the team lead in blocked shots (three apiece).

-- Nicklas Bacstrom had his 29^th career multi-point game (0-2-2) in the postseason, his 17^th on home ice.  The Caps are 20-9 when he posts multi-point games in the playoffs.

-- This was Marcus Johansson’s tenth multi-point playoff game of his career (1-1-2), sixth with the Caps.  Washington is 6-0-0 when Johansson had a multi-point game in the postseason.  He has five goals in those six games.

-- John Carlson led the Caps with 23:12 in ice time; Connor McMichael had 7:59.

-- Ovechkin had a whopping 9:17 in power play ice time, tenth-highest total of his career.

-- Ilya Samsonov stopped the last 28 shots he faced after allowing his only goal, to Jonathan Huberdeau, on the Panther’s second shot of the game.  He stood tall and was a wall when the Caps needed it.  It was his first career postseason win.

In the end…

This has to rank among the most complete games the Capitals have played in the postseason in recent memory.  Even allowing the first goal, they were the dominant team, and being a veteran group, they did not let that early goal interfere with their strategy of wearing the Panthers down.  This series has been characterized by a lot of hitting, and whether or not you find “hits” an arbitrary statistic, a little too dependent on the official scorer, this does not impress us as an area where the Panthers want to trade high volumes with the Caps.  Whether the Caps can take advantage of their physical edge, not to mention Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky’s sudden vulnerability, will be keys in Game 4, even if a lot of eyes will be on Sansonov to see if he can cobble together two superior efforts.

 

 

Capitals vs. Panthers: The Cousins Weigh In on Game 2

What Game 1 gave, Game 2 took away for the Washington Capitals.  The 4-2 win in Game 1 gave Capitals Nation hope that the 22-point regular season deficit the Caps had compared to the Florida Panthers could be made up with experience, discipline, and grit.  But Game 2 was a splash of cold water, reminding Caps fans that experience, discipline, and grit takes you only so far if you can’t finish, not to mention that the Panthers are, well, a really good hockey team.  So, what did the cousins think?  Let’s find out…

Peerless:  Let’s get right to it…goalie controversy, yes or no?

Fearless: Among Caps fans?  Indubitably.  It’s just the normal course of events for fans.  Something goes wrong, blame someone…the coach, the power play guy, the defenseman who coughed up the puck, the goalie who gave up a soft goal or three.  And that’s why fans aren’t general managers or head coaches.  So yes, there is a “controversy” as far as fans are concerned.  Just not this fan.

Cheerless: Fire Fearless.  Ilya Samsonov stopped all 17 shots he faced...gotta think about him for Game 3.

Feerless: Seventeen saves when the competitive portion of the game is over?  I'm not putting a lot of stock in that.  If you picked Vanecek as the number one from the start, he needs to learn how to grow a thick skin and develop a short memory.  Same would go for Samsonov if he started the series and had this result.  Can't do that from the bench.

Peerless: Was goaltending the reason the Caps lost last night?

Cheerless: Five goals on the last 15 shots Vitek Vanecek faced over 21 minutes?  It didn’t help.

Fearless: No, at least not until it was.  The Caps started like gangbusters last night, pinning Florida in their own end, outshooting them, 8-4, before the Panthers scored first.  They couldn’t finish.  They get a goal or two out of those eight shots, it could have been a very different game.  But then, when Florida got two late first period goals, the air went out of the Caps’ balloon pretty quick.

Peerless:  Tom Wilson missed last night’s game.  Did it make a difference?

Fearless: Look, Wilson had a career year this season.  He kind of slowed down at the very end of the regular season, but he had a late stretch with six goals in ten games.  He scored the first goal of the series.  The Caps could have used him on the power play, even though the Caps did get a power play goal.  But it was in the other end of the ice where his absence might have been more keenly felt. He’s not the goon he might have been at the start of his career, but opponents need to be aware of him when he’s out there.  He can still wreak havoc within the rules. But without him out there to put opponents’ heads on a swivel, the Panthers got fatter and happier as the game wore on without that threat. And it allowed their talent to shine though.

Cheerless: Wilson’s numbers might be a bit overrated, at least when it comes to its relationship to winning this season.  The Caps were 13-7-2 in the regular season when he scored a goal.  That’s pretty good, but not outta sight.  They were 2-2-0 when he had a power play goal.  They were just 14-11-5 when he had four or more hits.  They were 11-8-6 when he skated more than 20 minutes.  But they were 25-10-4 when he had a point, so there was that.  Maybe his offense wasn’t missed all that much, but I think Fearless is on to something with his absence allowing the Panthers to be a little too fancy free out there.

Fearless: He’s come so far, hasn’t he cousin?

Peerless: Yeah, he made the Kessel run in less 12 parsecs…let’s move on.  Alex Ovechkin…healthy, not healthy?

Cheerless: Yeah, yeah…two games, no goals, nine shots.  He’s gone consecutive games without goals before.  But he has 35 goals in 73 career home playoff games…the Caps are going to have to have that Ovechkin when they return home.  If he gets shutout at Capital One, then maybe his health is an issue, not to mention the Caps might he heading back to Florida facing elimination.

Fearless: I don’t see any particular indications that his health is an issue. But he has just two goals in his last seven games on home ice since the Caps won the Cup in 2018.  He’s got to be more frequent in finding the back of the net.

Peerless:  Back to last night.  Was there a turning point, and if so, what was it?

Fearless: The four-minute power play.  That could have been an elevating moment, if the Caps could have converted both ends of it and tied the game.  They had four shots on goal, three by Ovechkin, but all of those from distance.  It was a power play that just lacked any sense of urgency, and the Caps ended up being outshot over the remainder of the second period, 8-3 (two of Florida’s shots ended up as goals), and 17-3 in the third.  That power play failure just sucked what life they had out of them.

Cheerless: No turning point, more like turning ooze.  That start.  Looked good, felt good, but no finish.  It was like, wow…that bridge is great…gorgeous…well put together….too bad it’s 50 yards short of reaching the other side.  Too many times, when you dominate early and don’t finish, it comes back to haunt a team.  It did for the Caps.

Peerless: We said that this game might be a “coaches’ game,” specifically whether Andrew Brunette could make adjustments after a loss in this, his first NHL postseason.  Did he succeed?

Fearless: I don’t think “adjustments” had much, if anything, to do with the result.  Wilson’s absence giving Florida less worry, but more the depth/talent deficit the Caps have against this team.  That was the difference.  The Panther players played the game on their terms after the first ten minutes, and they won this game.

Cheerless: Florida won, didn’t they?  So, Brunette had to do something right, even if it was just letting his players play.

Peerless: On to Game 3…thoughts?

Fearless: The goalie “controversy” aside, I fear fans will look at Game 3 as a “must win” game.  I don’t subscribe to that notion until an opponent has won a third game.  The Caps have dominated at the start of both games so far.  Results were mixed.  Now they get to go home, where a team should shine.  But the Caps were just 19-22 (six losses in extra time) at home this season, and they are just 2-5 on home ice in the playoffs since they won the Cup, outscored by an average of 3.29 to 1.86 per game.  That has to change.  Quickly.

Cheerless: I think I’m done thinkin’ for the day.  Let’s just play some hockey.

Peerless: Works for me.

Eastern Conference Quarterfinal -- Game 2: Panthers 5 - Capitals 1

The Washington Capitals faced off against the Florida Panthers hoping to sweep the first two games in Florida before returning to DC for Games 3 and 4.  Washington won Game 1, 4-2.  Game 2 did not end as happily for the Caps, for whom the combination of lack of finish and iffy goaltending conspired to allow the Panthers to tie the series at a game apiece with a 5-1 win.

First Period…

Washington dominated possession in the first half of the period, but they went a man down 10:15 into the period when Nicklas Backstrom was called for hooking. The Caps killed the penalty without allowing a Panther shot on goal.

The Panthers did break through to open the scoring late in the period when an Aaron Ekblad drive hit Martin Fehervary, who was trying to block the shot, and bounced over the right shoulder of goalie Vitek Vanecek at the 16:20 mark. They would double their lead less than two minutes later when Jonathan Huberdeau worked the puck around Nicklas Backstrom in the right wing circle and found Aleksander Barkov cutting to the far post for a tap-in past Vanecek’s right pad to make it 2-0, 17:58 into the period.

The wheels were in danger of coming off when Anthon Mantha was called for pitching the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty at 18:06 of the period.  The Caps excape further damage in the 1:54 of the penalty that ran off, but they went to the locker room down, 2-0, with a brief carryover of the remainder of the penalty to start the second period.

-- Washington outshot Florida, 11-6, and out-attempted them, 19-14.

-- Conor Sheary led the Caps with three shots on goal and four shot attempts.

-- The Caps were just 7-for-19 on faceoffs.  No Capital taking more than one draw reached 50 percent; the top three centers (Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, and Lars Eller) were a combined 4-for-15.

-- The Caps had 14 of 18 skaters credited with hits in the period; Anthony Mantha and John Carlson led the team with three apiece.

Second Period…

The Caps killed off the remainder of the penalty that carried over from the first period.  That was followed up with the teams getting coincidental minors just 38 seconds into the period with Radko Gudas for Florida and Garnet Hathaway for the Caps going off for roughing minors.  Shortly thereafter, the Caps got their first power play when Anton Lundell was boxed for holding at the 2:07 mark.  The Caps converted when the worked the puck left to right around the perimeter when it ended up on Nicklas Backstrom’s stick, and Backstrom, from below the right wing circle, fired it short side past Sergei Bobrovsky to make it 2-1 at the 2:44 mark.

The one-goal deficit lasted all of 27 seconds.  Florida restored their two goal lead when Mason Marchment finished a four-man passing play with a snap shot that beat Vanecek between the pads to make it 3-1, 3:11 into the period.  The goal – the Panthers’ third – came on just their seventh shot of the game and first of the second period.

Washington had a chance to get back into the game when Marchment was called for two separate penalties, roughing and slashing, at the 5:58 mark to give the Caps a four-minute man advantage.  The Caps failed to convert either end of the double minor despite getting four shots on goal, three by Alex Ovechkin.

Florida upped the lead to three when the Caps failed to get the puck out of their end, and the Panthers ended up with a 2-on-0 in deep, Lundell finishing the play by taking a pass from Sam Reinhart at the post to Vanecek’s right and getting the tap-in at the 15:24 mark.

The competitive portion of the evening apparently ended barely two minutes later when Florida added a fifth goal, Carter Verhaeghe doing the damage with a shot from distance that Vanecek seemed to have a good look at as it passed by, hit off the post, and banked in at 17:32 of the period.  The 5-1 score would hold up through two periods.

-- The Caps outshot Florida, 13-12 in the period and out-attempted them, 22-21.

-- Peter Laviolette appeared to shorten his bench in the period. The fourth line of Nic Dowd, Brett Leason, and Johan Larsson had 11, 10, and nine shifts, respectively through 40 minutes.

-- The teams combined for 71 “hits” through two periods, the Caps with 41 and the Panthers with 30.  Only Dowd and Evgeny Kuznetsov had not been credited with a hit for the Caps.

-- Lars Eller had the only takeaway credited to the Caps through two periods

Third Period…

Ilya Samsonov relieved Vanecek to start the third period.  He was sharp, although given the context there might not be much to read into that.  The Caps went down a man when Hathaway was sent off for boarding at 9:54 of the period.  Washington skated off the penalty, but the clock was more important, another two minutes run off by the Panthers.

Florida got its fourth power play of the game when Nic Dowd was penalized for slashing at the 15:44 mark.  They did not score, but the cherry on top of this (rhymes with "spit") sundae was Hathaway getting a ten-minute misconduct penalty at 17:40 of the period.  It would be the last, sad entry for the Caps in this contest, Florida tying the series at a game apiece with the 5-1 win.

Other stuff…

-- The Panthers outshot the Caps, 17-3 in the third period, winning the overall shots on goal duel, 36-27.  Florida out-attempted the Caps for the game, 68-50.

-- Alex Ovechkin led the Caps with five shots on goal and nine attempts.  Johan Larsson, Martin Fehervary, and Brett Leason all finished the game without a shot attempt.

-- Vitek Vanecek allowed five goals on 18 shots.  A .722 save percentage.  A bad time to have his second-worst game save percentage of the season (he stopped one of two shots (.500) in 6:43 in a 4-3 Caps win on February 1^st).

-- In relief, Ilya Samsonov stopped all 17 shots he faced.

-- The Caps finished the game with 60 hits credited to them, the Panthers with 39…another 99-hit game, matching the combined total for both teams from Game 1.  Every Caps skater had at least one hit credited to his record.  Garnet Hathaway led the team with nine.

-- The Caps went 33-for-70 on faceoffs; Larsson was the only Capital over 50 percent (2-for-2/100.0 percent).

-- Washington was charged with 21 giveaways; three Caps – Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, and Evgeny Kuznetsov – were charged with three apiece.

-- Nick Jensen led the Caps with 22:42 in ice time; Brett Leason had the least (8:17).

-- Washington was credited with only three takeaways – Lars Eller, John Carlson, and T.J. Oshie all with one apiece.

-- This was the first time the Caps allowed five goals in a playoff game on the road since they dropped a 5-2 decision in Carolina to the Hurricanes in Game 6 of the 2019 Eastern Conference first round series.  The Caps went on to lose that series at home in double overtime.

In the end…

The Caps “outplayed” the Panthers for 40 minutes…right up until they had to actually produce.  And then, despite Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky looking shaky at times, they couldn’t finish.  The four-minute power play was the game in a microcosm.  You could tell when they failed to convert that opportunity that this was not going to end well for the Caps.  But the attention will now turn to goaltending, as it seems to have been the case all season.  While Ilya Samsonov did stop all 18 shots he faced, it had the look of pyrite – fool’s gold – more than a 24-karat performance.  Whoever is in goal in Game 3, it will be the most important game of their short playoff career to date.  And given the Caps poor record at home this season (19-22, six of the losses in extra time), things do not look nearly as rosy as they did after Game 1.