Indeed, uncharacteristic coverage errors by Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli directly led to these Caps goals. The Kings were still very much in the game until another execution error led to a back-breaking Brett Connolly strike:
¯\_(?)_/¯ Lack of execution against a team like the Caps is going to kill you pic.twitter.com/INmgTZpHYO
This is usually a fairly routine exchange between Dustin Brown to Brayden McNabb. Anyway, the point isn't to assess blame, but it's to further stress what I've harped on a lot this season: The importance of precision.
For a 5-0 loss, LA actually did a lot of good things yesterday, but some execution wasn't there -- from blown coverages to unforced neutral zone errors -- and Washington took every advantage.
***
Anze Kopitar made a joke and the punchline was Dale Weise.
Imma let you finish Jeff Carter, but that goal was all Anze Kopitar putting Dale Weise through 200 feet of hell pic.twitter.com/vZiBQyRhDB
First, Kopitar bullies Weise off the puck in Peter Budaj's corner. Drew Doughty then sets a pick to prevent Weise from harassing Kopitar behind the net.
Kopitar decides against taking on Weise for now, dropping the puck off to Doughty behind the net. Doughty skates up at a deliberate pace and sees Kopitar streaking away from Weise at center ice. The Norris Trophy incumbent knows that a pass off the boards to Kopitar will advance play.
Kopitar curls at center ice and sees Jeff Carter standing by himself at the opposite blueline. Philadelpia respects Carter too much to play him closely in a non-dangerous area, lest he turns on the jets and leaves his defender behind.
While Los Angeles has done some beautiful, probably much-practiced work to advance the puck so far, the play is not dangerous yet. Brayden Schenn and Brandon Manning appear to have a handle on Carter and Doughty coming down the wings.
So instead of a head-on attack, Carter and Kopitar improvise. This curl back criss-cross -- especially unusual in the offensive zone -- should at least wear out the Flyers, who have now been out for 40+ seconds. It also creates a distraction -- but most importantly, it allows both Carter and Kopitar to re-build skating momentum, which had been lost because Carter's previous drop pass didn't hit Kopitar in stride.
Weise is in the wind, so Schenn and Manning attempt to compensate. Consequently, both Carter and Doughty settle in soft spots. Kopitar has a full portfolio of options -- he can attack Michal Neuvirth one on one, alley oop it to Carter, or feed Doughty for a point-blank bid in the slot.
Anyway, this play also serves as further proof that despite his goalscoring slump this year, Kopitar's overall game is still strong. The goals appear to be coming for the captain too, as he's broken a one goal in 29 games cold snap with a couple recently.
I think the scoring continues. As we know, Kopitar is no stranger to protracted slumps. Here are just a sample:
• 13 straight games without a goal in 2009-10
• 17 straight games without a goal in 2011-12
• 19 straight games without a goal in 2012-13
Despite these long droughts, he's never scored less than 0.20 goals per game in a campaign. At 0.13 right now, he'll need to heat up to reach that mark -- assuming good health from here on out, that's nine goals in the last 29 games of this season. That's attainable and would bode well for LA's hunt for a playoff berth.
***
I also want to go back to two weeks ago and Marian Gaborik's electrifying goal against the Hurricanes.
Late in the third period of a 0-0 deadlock, LA, as usual against Carolina, was having trouble breaking out. Bill Peters's disciplined bunch -- with a tendency to back off the forecheck -- pretty much trap opponents. Look at what they're springing here:
Drew Doughty, who has just received a reverse rim from Anze Kopitar, is surveying his options. The fact that Kopitar went backwards with the puck in the first place suggests that he didn't have better options, which is what Carolina wants.
For Doughty and the Kings, the typical bread-and-butter play is going up to a stationary Gaborik on the half-wall. Gaborik will then touch it to Brown in motion cutting toward the middle.
Los Angeles has been reaping the rewards from this play for years.
But the Hurricanes have been eliminating this go-to move all night and are in the process of doing so again -- see how Justin Faulk and Ron Hainsey are spying on Gaborik and Brown.
That is, until Doughty and Kopitar overturn Peters's best-laid plans.
The flash plays are Kopitar's neutral zone curl and bank off the boards to Doughty, then Doughty finding the breaking Gaborik. Also, inexcusably, Brock McGinn loses Gaborik blueline in.
But this goal starts with Kopitar going against the grain then Doughty defying expectations by going back to the captain. Changing it up on the breakout, Kopitar's creativity, and a Carolina mistake equaled a gorgeous game-winner two weeks ago.
***
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