Hello All,
Hockey is back! After 10 days off, the Washington Capitals returned to action last night and defeated the Nashville Predators 5-3 at Capital One Arena. As far as head to head wins go against particular teams, this one felt good. The Predators have owned the Capitals as of late. The Preds had won the previous eight games against the Caps heading into last night. The last time the Caps beat the Predators was March 18th, 2016. That is sort of absurd.
Here Are the Stats From the Game:
Shots on Goal:
WSH – 37
NSH – 20
Shots on Goal (5v5):
WSH – 21
NSH - 17
Corsi For %:
WSH – 58.72%%
NSH – 41.28%
Corsi For % (5v5):
WSH – 47.95%
NSH – 52.05%
Power Play:
WSH – 0/6
NSH - 0/4
Hits:
WSH – 20
NSH – 25
Blocks:
WSH – 14
NSH - 17
Scoring Chances For:
WSH – 41
NSH - 22
Scoring Chances For (5v5):
WSH – 23
NSH - 20
High Danger Chances For:
WSH – 15
NSH – 11
High Danger Chances For: (5v5):
WSH – 9
NSH - 9
My Takeaways:
The GOOD
John Carlson – What an offensive game from John Carlson. He had 1G-3A-4P last night. Four points matches a career high for Carlson in a single game. He also accomplished this April 17th, 2021 against Philadelphia where he had four assists. Carlson now ranks 3rd in the NHL for points for a defenseman. He has 7G-23A-30P. There is no doubt about it, Carlson is one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL, its just consistent lockdown defense I would say he needs to work on. I mean, he is a defender after all. All in all, Carlson gets a A+ grade for the night.
Evgeny Kuznetsov – In my last blog, I polled you guys on who you thought was the Capitals MVP other than Ovechkin. Well, the people have spoken! Here are results:
Kuznetsov was the clear winner with 81 votes which is roughly 49% of the of the total vote. Last night Kuzy showed up big time, again. With the score 3-3 late in the third, Kuzy scored a wicked wrister. It was technically a short-handed goal but id hardly call the play a short-handed play. Here is the goal as provided by the official Capitals twitter account:
This goal is just a sample of what Kuzy has been doing all season.
The BAD
Three Goal Leads – The Capitals coughed up yet another 3-goal lead. I have lost count of how many that is this season but the fact I lost count is not a good sign for the Caps. Fortunately for the Caps, they were able to pull it together for a very strong third period. These types of games are good tests for the Caps. Going through adversity throughout the season as a group helps is a great way to build confidence that you can overcome this again say…in the playoffs.
Ilya Samsonov – I wouldn’t say Samsonov was “bad” this game but he wasn’t exactly great either. Most of the goals from Nashville were as a result of defensive breakdowns or simply a tip in front of the net. Samsonov finished with 17 saves on 20 shots which is good for .850 SV%. He was 1-1 on power play shots from the Predators.
The UGLY
Capitals Power Play – The Caps went 0-6 on the power play. Woof. The Caps are now the 30th ranked PP in the league at 14.6%. Since November 1st they are converting only 12.6% of the power plays which is good for LAST in the league. Since December 1st, the Capitals have had 25 power plays…they have scored one…yes one power play goal. That is also good for last in the league at a whopping 4% power play conversion rate for December. I am not panicking as much as most people given that key power play players like Backstrom and Oshie have been out a majority of the season. However, these PP problems also existed the last few years with a healthy lineup. Lets wait and see how the power play shakes out over the next few months. It can only go up from here, right?!
That is all, thanks for reading and GO CAPS
Next up, the Capitals face off @Detroit at 7:30pm … assuming the game will not be PPD.
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Stats and Facts provided by:
nhl.com/stats
hockey-reference.com
naturalstattrick.com
@CapitalsPR Twitter page
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Follow me on Twitter @HB_Capitals
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