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WSH 3, NYI 1 - Samsonov Keeps Caps in it Early, Caps Ride Power Play in Win |
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Hello All,
In what was arguably the biggest game of the season to date, the Capitals put forth one of their stronger efforts of the season and ultimately won the game 3-1 over the streaking New York Islanders who were winners of nine straight games heading into tonight.
Before I dive into my takeaways from the game, here are the stats from the game:
Shots on Goal:
WSH – 22
NYI – 22
Shots on Goal (5v5):
WSH – 19
NYI – 17
Faceoff %:
WSH – 39%
NYI – 61%
Power Play:
WSH – 2/4
NYI – 1/2
Hits:
WSH – 25
NYI - 30
Blocks:
WSH – 18
NYI – 9
Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 15
NYI – 26
Scoring Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 12
NYI – 23
High Danger Chances For:
WSH – 6
NYI – 10
High Danger Chances For: (5v5):
WSH – 5
NYI – 9
Giveaways:
WSH - 12
NYI – 5
My Takeaways from the Game:
Ilya Samsonov Keeps the Caps in it Early – With the Capitals returning from a road trip and on the second game of back to back, it was expected they would be a little slow getting out of the gate. Well, thats is exactly what happened. The Islanders had a phenomenal start to this contest. New York was getting pucks in deep and cycling to create high quality and high danger chances, mainly from the high slot. The Islanders had four high danger chances in the first period and posted 23 shot attempts compared to the Capitals 13. New York looked exactly like the team who had won nine games in a row. The only problem for the Islanders, Ilya Samsonov was up to the task tonight. He stopped all 11 shots he faced in the first period, four of which as I mentioned were high danger chances. This was easily Samsonov’s best performance of the season. He essentially bailed out the Capitals as it took the team about 20+ minutes to find their legs. Ilya Samsonov appears to be back to 100% since returning from the COVID list. He is now 6-0-1 on the season. The Capitals have two young goaltenders who both seem to be finding their game lately. With the trade deadline approaching, does Washington still go out and get a veteran for insurance purposes or does Laviolette roll with Samsonov, Vanecek, and Anderson?
Capitals League Best Home Power Play – As mentioned in my previous post, my only critique of the Capitals in last nights win against Buffalo was the power play success and lack of power play opportunities. The Islanders entered the game ranked third best in the league with 2.38 times short-handed a game and third best at 2.75 minor penalties per game. The Capitals entered the game ranked 27th at 3.03 penalties drawn per game. I really was not expecting a lot of Capitals power plays tonight. Well I was wrong. The Capitals were awarded four power plays on the night and scored two beautiful goals against the 10th ranked Islanders PK. If we look at the relatively even 5v5 play this game, its safe to say it was the special teams on top of Samsonov’s performance, that really ended up being the difference maker. The Washington Capitals still have the leagues best home power play % at 45.7% scoring 16 goals on 35 chances. On Ovechkins power play goal, the Capitals completed 16 total passes on the same zone power play possession. The puck eventually found its way to Ovi in his office and well…you know the rest. Congrats on 718, Ovi!
Laviolette Coaching Adjustments – After the first period, Laviolette started shifting the lines here and then to get things moving. He rotated Kuzy and Backstrom back and forth between first and second line center. He put Vrana on the PP to start the third period. Vrana was the one with the absolute dime of an assist to Backstrom for the Capitals second power play goal of the night to put the team up 3-0. It seemed like whatever Laviolette tinkered with, turned out to work extremely well. Some changes were more subtle than others, but Laviolette deserves some serious credit. The Caps were moving slow on the second game of a back to back and these subtle changes provided a spark and allowed the Capitals to find their game in the second period. It just goes to show how cerebral Laviolette can be and why he was considered one of the most coveted coaches hired in the offseason. He has a good pulse on this team right now and everyone seems to be playing a team game not only for each other but also for Laviolette.
Alex Ovechkin – We are spoiled to watch the Great 8. He scored his 1300th point tonight from an assist. Later in the period he scored his 718th career goal and officially passed Phil Esposito for 6th all-time. Ovechkin has enjoyed playing the Islanders lately. He scored a hat-trick against them last year and you just had a feeling with how hot he has been lately, that he would find the back of the net tonight.
The Sum Up:
The Capitals weathered the early barrage of Islanders chances in the first period and were able to hang around in this game long enough to find their legs. From the second period on, it was a relatively even game. I thought the Islanders played a solid game but looked a little shell shocked when the Capitals began to press and open things up. I know Islanders have been winning games but no Anders Lee hurts a lot. The only games they have won without him were against the New Jersey Devils. The Islanders next games are three straight against philly, two straight against Boston, then two straight against Pittsburgh. That will be a very fair sample size on where this offense truly lies without their playmaker Lee.
Next up the Capitals play the Rangers on Friday and Saturday. The Capitals are 0-2-0 against the Rangers this season and both those games haven’t been close in my opinion. This is a great chance to see if the streaking caps can handle and slow down the young Rangers squad that brings a ton of speed and play-making ability. Panarin is back…yay.
Thanks for reading and GO CAPS!
Mood:
tweet provided by NoVa_Caps
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Stats and Facts provided by:
nhl.com/stats
hockey-reference.com
naturalstattrick.com
@CapitalsPR Twitter page
Follow me on Twitter @HB_Capitals
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