Photo: Chris Gordon
The thing about hockey games, or at least one of the things about hockey games, is that they are at least sixty minutes long. If your team only plays well for– let’s say– the back forty of that hour, you’re gonna have a bad time. The Washington Capitals had a bad time on Saturday.
Chris Kreider scored in the game’s first minute, exploiting some uninvolved Capitals defense. Dan Boyle’s power-play marker made it 2-0 before the first intermission, and things looked grim.
Evgeny Kuznetsov extended his stupid-good postseason with a nifty rebound goal in the second period.
The Caps failed to convert their first power play in the third, and then Derick Brassard made it 3-1. Alex Ovechkin narrowed the gap by taking on two Rangers and scoring from his knees. The Caps made a lot of noise in the final 90 ticks, but couldn’t score.
Rangers beat Caps 3-2. The series is tied 1-1.
- Washington was just terrible in the opening period, as illustrated by this shot-attempt timeline from hockeystats.ca. That is not an acceptable start for any playoff team not from Calgary.
- The Capitals’ amazing penalty kill finally yielded after 17 perfect shorthanded sessions. The goal belonged to Dan Boyle, who miraculously survived Nick Backstrom’s assassination attempt on Thursday.
- The Caps went shorthanded three times and failed to draw a single penalty until the third period. Alex Ovechkin was a force of nature during that PP– and not one of the lame ones like rain or fog. Troy Brouwer wasn’t quite so stout in his position in the slot. I’m not sure why he’s still there; I’m confident Johansson would do better there.
- Brouwer got busted for a late-game high sticking on Keith Yandle, but it was embellishment (uncalled).
- More like Evgeny Jokes-netsov. Four goals in nine games is pretty good, but it’s not…
- Alex Ovechkin, the greatest player in the world and maybe the most dangerous playoff players in the last 25 years, scored yet another goal that only he could score. Alone again with multiple Rangers, Ovi drove to the net, took the check, and scored anyway. He’s the best, and that’s not hyperbole.
Alex Ovechkin shoots more than any other player BY A MILE http://t.co/Vnn67DvMvX You primitive screw-heads pic.twitter.com/nmKGGzydi9
— RMNB (@rmnb) May 2, 2015
- He is actually the best. So whatever idiotic, narrative-driven bullshit that Pierre or Kenny peddle about “finally buying in” or not winning “the ultimate team prize,” let’s remind ourselves that those guys don’t have a meaningful understanding of the game they are absurdly overpaid to cover poorly for a living, which is why we made our own community in the first place.
Whatever. That was an exciting back half to the game, but not nearly enough for a win. That’s fine. One win on the road is all we could ask for from these first two games, and we got it.
Come home, boys. We got a big week ahead.
Enjoy the remainder of your Saturday. I recommend not watching the Derby or the fight. I’m not saying you’re a bad person if you do those things, I’m just saying you’re doing something a bad person would do.
