Since the last time the Caps played, I seem to have acquired vertigo. I get dizzy and I have to lay down and sometimes I throw up. Monday’s road game against the New York Islanders felt like more of the same.
Brock Nelson got us going in the first with a goal made possible by Jason Chimera’s secondary assist on the zone entry. Andrew Ladd started the second period with a rush goal against Washington’s top line, followed a minute later by a John Tavares layup. With that, Braden Holtby ditched the net and Philipp Grubauer took over.
Dmitry Orlov cracked the shutout eight minutes into the third, capping off an end-to-end drive by Stephenson and Beagle, but that was all the Caps could muster.
Isles beat Caps 3-1.
- Jaroslav Halak owns beachfront property inside the heads of the Washington Capitals, but this wasn’t that. The Caps weren’t stonewalled on great scoring chances, they just didn’t have much spark until Orlov had that inspired drive. So much for Halak’s shutout.
- Anders Lee “scored” late in the first period, but it was disallowed because Lee pushed Holtby’s pads over the goal line, and you can’t do that. The Islanders challenged, and I incorrectly cited Rule 69 because I’m a manchild, but it was still not a goal.
- Dmitry Orlov scored his third goal of the season and his first since November 18.
- Our friends from the NYC Caps Crew were in the house.
We got @TarikNBCS in our section. He’s memorizing the chants. pic.twitter.com/XTu69DCrkV
— NYC Caps Crew (@NYCCapsCrew) December 12, 2017
- The Caps didn’t get their first offensive of the game until the game’s fourth minute, by which point the Isles already had the lead. More on this below, but this was the opposite of an inspired performance from Washington. I suspect
- With the game just oppressively boring halfway in, Barry Trotz jumbled up his lines, ending (probably temporarily) #TopLineTom and making it hard to get isolation in head-to-head and linemate numbers. Rude.
- Nick Backstrom committed back-to-back penalties – slashing and tripping – perhaps indicating that he was just as grumpy about this game as I was.
- Braden Holtby, pictured above looking like he’s about to play some early Pearl Jam songs for you on his acoustic guitar, got pulled early in the second. He gave up three goals on 12 shots faced, but his team was placid and flaccid in front of him, so I’m not gonna give him a hard time.
#JoeBSuitOfTheNight #CapsIsles pic.twitter.com/eNtiMyoYdd
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) December 12, 2017
They can’t all be winners, and this game was definitely a loser. The Caps looked merely human, which is only surprising because they had been pretty excellent for most of the last three weeks (winning eight of their last ten before tonight). They better get over it quick: the Avs are in town tomorrow night. I suspect they’ll be ready.
