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WSH 1, STL 5 - Capitals Unable to Snap Blues Home Point Streak |
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Hello All,
The Washington Capitals returned to action after five days off to face the St. Louis Blues on the road.
Here are the stats from the game followed by my takeaways:
Shots on Goal:
WSH – 27
STL – 24
Shots on Goal (5v5):
WSH – 24
STL – 21
Corsi For %:
WSH – 53.85%%
STL – 46.15%
Corsi For % (5v5):
WSH – 53.25%
STL – 46.75%
Power Play:
WSH – 0/3
STL - 0/2
Hits:
WSH – 11
STL – 19
Blocks:
WSH – 8
STL - 12
Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 30
STL - 24
Scoring Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 24
STL - 20
High Danger Chances For:
WSH – 6
STL – 12
High Danger Chances For: (5v5):
WSH – 5
STL - 9
My Takeaways:
The Stats -The Caps overall played a decent game and the score certainly doesn’t reflect their effort. However, this 5-1 loss is objectively their largest goal margin loss of the season. The Caps held advantages in shots on goal, Corsi For %, and scoring chances for. These all typically translate to close games and often wins. However, on the flip end, the Blues held a strong advantage in the shots that really matter…high danger. Oddly enough, only one of the Blues 12 high danger chances actually resulted in a goal. So where did it all go wrong for the Capitals?
Ilya Samsonov – This was not Samsonov’s best night. Samsonov had 12 saves on 16 shots against. Samsonov allowed one high danger goal, two medium danger goals, and one low danger goal. He was pulled for the third period and replaced by Zach Fucale. The Blues did a great job making the extra or perfect pass to the wide-open guy. Samsonov had more than enough space and room to make the saves but he just kept getting beat. Credit the Blues players for the extra passes and of course scoring the goals. That’s what they get paid the big bucks to do…make plays and score. Samsonov needs to be better, especially on the medium and low danger shots against.
Power Play Struggles – Once again the Caps went scoreless on their power play. The leagues 30th ranked power play is not much to brag about. The Caps had three power plays and generated ONE shot on goal. I am not sure the solution here. Backstrom and Oshie are out and they are starters on the first unit. I am hopeful once the Caps return to full strength this will at least improve over time right? Since December first the Capitals have gone 2 for 32 on the PP which is good for 6.3% and ranks 31st in the league. It can really only go up...right?!
Overall, I just think the Caps offense struggled to generate consistent quality chances to really test the blues backup, Husso. Husso played great but really wasn’t tested. Blues fans may point to the save he made in the first couple minutes of the game when the Caps had a 3 on 1. My counter to that save is that Leason blew that one. Look at tall the wide open net and look at where Leason shot the puck...questionable. I will give the Blues credit, they certainly look like the real deal and could go deep in the playoffs.
Honorable Mention – Tom Wilson played in his 600th career game for the Caps. He is the 5th youngest player in franchise history to reach 600 games played. Here is the tweet from @CapitalsPR twitter:
Congrats, Tom!
Up Next, the Capitals travel to Minnesota to face a Kaprisov-less Wild team. I will post my blog for that game tomorrow morning as well. That is all! Go CAPS
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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