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Caps Recap: Road Trippin & Trade Update |
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Hello Hockey World,
Since my last rant, the Capitals have embarked on and finished a three-game road trip out West. Heading into the trip, the biggest glaring concern but just an overall collective play of the team. Pretty general analysis, I know. If you watch the games, every aspect of the team’s play has been extremely underwhelming and unproductive. As pointed out by RMNB, the Caps are 11-11-0 since December 23rd. One specific stat that stands out to me is that the Caps lead the NHL with 26 goals allowed in their last six games. They are 29th in the NHL since 12/23 in GA/G. Not good. The boys in red got absolutely destroyed by Flyers 7-2 then followed that loss up with another embarrassing home loss to the Islanders 5-3, a game in which they trailed 5-1.
Today, we are looking forward and onward and assessing how the Capitals have rebounded on the road and trying to pull anything positive we can. It is gut check time. how does this team respond to adversity during its toughest stretch of the season?!? Well, lets take a look at the three games:
WSH 3, COL 2 – WIN (trailed 0-2)
WSH 1, ARI 3 – LOSS
WSH 2, VGK 3 – LOSS
Record: 1-2-0
Overall Grade: C
Three Takeaways:
1. Braden Holtby – Considering how poor he played earlier this season and how bad our defense has been lately, Holtby looked pretty darn good on this road trip. He surprisingly got all three starts. I thought Samsonov would for sure get at least one. I can point out at least one or two “big-time” saves in all three games where he single handedly kept the Capitals in the game. Without those saves, each game could have potentially been another blowout. This team absolutely needs him on his game heading into the playoffs otherwise we are minced meat. Its not perfect but I like where his game is trending.
2. Cold Offense – The team is averaging 2.25 goals over their last four games. This is quite the drop off from their typical fourth ranked 3.44 goals per game. Remember earlier in the season when they were averaging 4.33 goals per game? I guess it was unrealistic to sustain such a high volume of offense of the season. The Capitals have been somewhat lucky in my opinion in scoring some power play goals as of late but the eye test tells me it is not sustainable. They don’t move the puck enough and teams are shadowing Ovi’s office. This has opened up a lot of space in TJ Oshie's soft spot of the defense hence why Oshie has scored five goals in his last five games while Ovechkin has gone pointless. My general opinion on the offense??...Lets hope Ovi gets to 700 ASAP so we all can move on and go back to normal. I don’t like the national media picking up our games and putting extra pressure on the boys.
3. Slow Starts – The Capitals have been severely outplayed in the first frame of every game. In fact, they have allowed the first goal in all seven games to in February except for one. The one where they scored first was against Pitt and they eventually fell behind 3-1. The team has been outscored 12-4 in the first period in February and are routinely falling behind 3+ goals in games. The team needs to pick up the energy and start commanding games from the start.
In other news, the Capitals traded for left handed Defenseman Brendon Dillon. Dilly Dilly! After a porous defensive performance over the last month, a trade needed to be done. I do believe there has been a slight defensive improvements over the last three games but I still saw a defense that is vulnerable to get destroyed come playoff time by juggernaut teams such as Pitt, TB, Boston, NYI. They needed to make a move and they did. Enter Brendon Dillon. From what I have gathered, he can handle a lot of time on ice, is a great penalty killer, and isn’t afraid to throw a hip check. He is ideally going to play on the second pairing with Orlov. I am not sure how the lines will look or work moving forward but I am just happy for reinforcements.
Thoughts on the trade? How are you feeling about the Capitals struggles as of late? As always, thank you for reading.
Brian S
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