The Washington Capitals were all over the place in Arizona on Friday night. They were sloppy in the first, but got it together briefly in the second, before just sorta giving up late. It was a blowout to one of the league’s worst teams while the Caps are fighting for the division title. And to add injury to insult, there were (possible) injuries too.
The Caps got lit up in the first, surrendering goals to Dvorak, Jooris, and Burmistrov in the first 14 minutes. Barry Trotz gave Braden Holtby a breather after that, but the goalie returned for the second period, which started well enough.
Nick Backstrom scored a convincing power-play goal, followed by Dan Winnik setting his new career-high in goals, but that surge ended abruptly. Dvorak and Burmistrov scored a pair of power-play goals to put the Caps back in their hole for the second intermission.
Peter Holland seemed to break the Caps’ back with a marker, but Justin Williams responded with one of his own twenty seconds later.
Coyotes beat Caps 6-3. Mmk.
I wasn’t sure this existed. I just blindly googled it, and there it was. somaliaB!
- Um, this game was bad. I don’t wanna recap this. Could I interest you instead of a hefty helping of good good dogs?
- Alright, so, the Coyotes had 12 shots on goal before this game hit 10 minutes and 30 seconds. Braden Holtby got lit up in that first frame, and Barry Trotz wisely pulled him. But then, in the second, Holtby was back. This was also wise, I suppose. In returning the goalie, Trotz could have been telling his team not to lie down, and that’s a good notion, even if it failed horribly.
- I loved TJ Oshie‘s sacrifice to hook up Nick Backstrom for the opening goal. That’s dedication, and it followed Tom Wilson doing similar, absorbing a high stick from OEL to put the Caps on the power play. It was a brutal night for Wilson as he absorbed a shot to his knee in the third period but returned to the ice anyway.
- In other curious decisions. Justin Williams collided headfirst with a ‘Yote. I was certain he’d need some time in the quiet room, but Williams stayed on the bench. A shift later, Williams put a puck in the back of the net. I am not a doctor.
- I’m just gonna embed my own tweet, because the late great Lane Smith summed up my feelings from the first period perfectly.
gpoy pic.twitter.com/Omhm8okybk
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) April 1, 2017
- Alex Burmistrov is not a goal scorer. His two goals against Washington on Friday doubles his season total. This game was weird.
- Big ups to Daniel Winnik for setting a new career high in goals. He’s my favorite part of the third line. One thing I like about him was that he didn’t make a massive drop pass while in the offensive zone during a penalty kill that went awry and gave Christian Dvorak a freebie breakaway. That’s a thing I like about Winnik.
- Despite the horrid start, the Caps generated a lot of offense. They flirted with 50 shots on goal, which means that goalie Louis Domingue was fantastic in front of an iffy Arizona defense.
Joe B suit of the night
Burn the tape.
