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Desert Dogs keep the Caps in the Sand |
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In a game where the Washington Capitals could have taken advantage of a team coming in on the second end of back to back games it was the Arizona Coyotes who skated away with a 4-1 win in DC on Sunday night. The penalty kill continues to plague the Caps as the Coyotes scored a pair of PPG’s on six opportunities and the power play fizzled finishing with no goals on two chances.
Darcy Kuemper was stellar in goal making 39 saves for Arizona but the Capitals did not generate many high scoring chances particularly in the 2nd period where the Caps outshot the Coyotes 16 to 5. With only 40 total goals scored coming in the Coyotes had a one of their better games against the Capitals.
The Capitals continue to play loose with 10 giveaways and did not seem to play with urgency as they have not played with any consistency over a game much less two in row. Braden Holtby again could not be faulted for the loss as his record drops to 5-5-2 on the season.
The game started with Dmitry Orlov heading to the box early at 18:45 but the Capitals penalty kill held including a great save by Holtby on Fischer down low. The line of TJ Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin was reunited and they were the Caps best line early but could not beat Kuemper. Ovechkin now needs 49 shots to reach 5000 for his career.
Shots were 7-2 Arizona midway through the period as the Caps got caught chasing and Matt Niskanen went off for tripping and gave the Arizona power play another chance. They cashed in when Vinnie Hinostroza finished off a nice three way passing play after transitioning back on a 3 on 1 and buried a one-time shot past Holtby for the 1-0 lead. The Caps did force the game for remainder of the period finishing with 12 shots to Arizona’s 10 but went to the room down 1.
The second period had the Capitals first crack with the man advantage as they took their NHL 2nd best power play to test against Arizona’s number one penalty kill. Kuemper held the net as the Caps moved the puck well and fired 3 shots but could not score. The Caps kept pressure on the Coyotes outshooting them 20-14 at the halfway point of the game but it was the Coyotes pouncing on a Travis Boyd offensive zone turnover as Richard Panik picked up the errant Boyd pass and skated back towards Holtby and fired a shot short-side at 11:57 for the 2-0 lead.
Nicklas Backstrom took just 44 seconds to reply as he buried an excellent pass from Ovechkin to bring the Capitals within one at 12:41. The Capitals have been great in the second period so far with goals in 14 out of their first 15 games in the middle frame outscoring the opposition 25-15 coming into the game. The goal extended Backstrom’s point streak to five games and Madison Bowey also assisted for his first point of the season.
Evgeny Kuznetsov then took a penalty less then a minute later to send the Coyotes back on the power play and they cashed in to make it 3-1 as Alex Galchenyuk scored his 3rd of the year on a rebound. The Capitals have now allowed 17 PPG’s against with only Ottawa and Philadelphia (18) being worse as this continues to be an area of concern without Tom Wilson and Brooks Orpik in the lineup. The Capitals received their 2nd PP of the game at 15:34 and had some good chances but again Kuemper stoned them. The Capitals finished leading in shots 16-5 in the period and 26-17 in the game but headed to the second intermission trailing by two.
The 3rd period started out much like the 1st as TJ Oshie took a double minor for high-sticking but the Caps PK was able to hold off the Coyotes PP. The Capitals managed to get a couple of nice chances and out shot Arizona 13-5 in the 3rd but in the end could not solve Kuemper and the game was over by the time Derek Stepan scored into an empty net to make it 4-1.
The Capitals will now head out onto the road for a tough four game stretch starting with a back to back in Minnesota on Tuesday and Winnipeg Wednesday before finishing the trip with games vs Colorado and Montreal.
The Caps need to find some consistency soon as it’s mid November and any excuses are no longer valid for a team coming off a championship season. Expectations for this team are much higher then what we’ve seen so far.
The Capitals unveiled their new third jersey in the game and I have to say they are the best in the league. Where’s Rod Langway?? Love the pants.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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