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WSH 1, NYI 5 - Capitals Losing Steam to Closeout the Season |
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Hello All,
The Washington Capitals lost to the New York Islanders 5-1 last night. The loss adds to an already abysmal week for the Capitals. The team is trending down at the absolute worse time with the playoffs around the corner.
Here are the stats from the game:
Shots on Goal:
WSH – 27
NYI – 26
Shots on Goal (5v5):
WSH – 21
NYI – 19
Corsi For %:
WSH – 56.84%
NYI – 43.16%
Corsi For % (5v5):
WSH – 56.34%
NYI – 43.66%
Power Play:
WSH – 0/6
NYI – 3/5
Hits:
WSH – 22
NYI – 13
Blocks:
WSH – 11
NYI – 9
Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 27
NYI – 25
Scoring Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 19
NYI – 20
High Danger Chances For:
WSH– 11
NYI – 8
High Danger Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 9
NYI – 6
My Thoughts:
Flat Again - I think it is fair to say most people believe the Capitals are trying their best to finish the season strong. A strong finish once would have given the Caps a chance to avoid the soon to be President Trophy winning Florida Panthers. If that was the case, the game against the Islanders on Tuesday and Thursday this weekend mattered big time for the Caps and meant nothing for the Islanders. Yet, here we sit after two games and the Capitals were outscored 9-2, gave up 5 power play goals on seven penalties, and we still dont know if Ovechkin will be ready for game one next week. Not a great way to close out the season. Its not just that the Capitals are losing these games this week, its HOW they are losing them that is sounding the alarm.
Panthers or Rangers? - If the Capitals want to avoid Florida in the first round, they will need to win tonight AND the Blue Jackets will need to beat the Penguins in regulation. I am not holding my breath on that one. Actual Vegas odds have the Caps vs Rangers as a "pick em" tonight. Each team is listed at -110 on the money line. The Penguins however are -350 moneyline favorites against the Jackets who won last night against TBL. I plugged in these odds for a parlay calculator and its roughly +580 odds if you bet the Caps and Jackets moneyline. Aka...it aint gonna happen. I am in the camp of belief that the Capitals would actually fair better against the Panthers in a playoff series compared to the Rangers. The Caps should want to avoid a heated rivalry series against the Rangers, especially considering the history between the clubs the last two seasons. It would make for great TV but I dont like the Caps odds in that type of series. Personally, I think the Caps would fair better against the Panthers. Absolutely not a soul in the world would pick the Caps to do anything in the series and there would be no pressure. Zero expectations and zero pressure! Give me that all day.
Here are the results from the poll I posted last blog. Also, thank you all for your comments and participation. I always love reading your thoughts and really appreciate it.
My biggest takeaway from the poll and it confirms mine and some of our readers thoughts...we want the Panthers. The consensus is still leaning Rangers but 40% of the votes for Florida is quite eye opening!
Headlines to Look Out For - At this point the Caps just need to get healthy and get back to playing elite hockey. Questions and headlines I am looking to have answers to in the coming days are: When will Ovechkin return? Who will start at Goaltender for Game 1? What will the starting lines look like? Will the special teams get back on track tonight and/or once the playoffs start?
Next up, the Capitals travel to Madison Square Garden tonight to face the Rangers. It is the second half of a back-to-back. I am not sure if the Rangers will be starting all their guys. I think Copp and Panarin were banged up last game so they might just rest some dudes to be safe.
That is all for today. Thank you for reading and GO CAPS!
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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