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Caps streaking - The wrong way! |
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Barry Trotz and his New York Islanders proved themselves to be the hot team they have been winning 13 times over the last 16 as they went into Washington and handed the Capitals a 2-0 loss to put themselves in the top spot in the highly contested Metro Divison. Coming off a win Thursday night, the Islanders are now 7-0 in the second end of a back-to-back situation. The loss dropped the Capitals into a tie with Columbus for second with 59 points just one point up on 4th place Pittsburgh Penguins.
The loss was the the fourth straight for the Caps who have been in a little bit of a funk winning only 3 of their last 10 games only scoring a total of 22 goals over that span while allowing 35. The last time they lost 4 games in a row was March 6-12 of 2017. They last were shutout this season on October 11th 6-0 in New Jersey.
The Capitals have been taking many penalties this year as both coach Todd Reirden and General Manager Brian MacLellan have voiced their concerns with this aspect of their game. Just 10 seconds into the game Nicklas Backstrom was called for hooking in an ironic twist as players alike said they had to better with stick infractions. The Caps penalty killers were able to kill it off as they continue to improve their play while a man down killing off 40 of their last 46 penalties against.
The game was a defensive battle as neither would score in the opening two periods though Holtby, second star of the game, had to make a few key saves to keep the Caps in it. Shots were 8-1 Isles almost halfway through the period.
The Caps have been making some questionable decisions with the puck and tonight was no different with 12 giveaways in the game.
The Islanders would score the games’ first goal 5:08 into the third period when Josh Bailey would tip a Matthew Barzal shot past Holtby. Barzal, last years Calder Trophy winner, entered the Caps zone and worked his way back to the top of the zone and wristed a shot towards the net where Bailey got a piece of it to deflect it up over the helpless Caps goaltender.
Any chance of the Caps tying the game up got exponentially worse just over two minutes later as Cal Clutterbuck would snap a shot past Holtby to make it 2-0 and the Isles never looked back. Washington’s 4 shots in the third suggest a team not playing with urgency. They will need to find it soon as the “dog days” of the hockey season are upon us and things can get ugly quickly.
Islander Thomas Greiss recorded his second shutout of the season facing a paltry 19 shots by the Capitals offense.
The Caps to me are facing a more of trap system against teams they playing and are having trouble getting pucks through the neutral zone. Teams are clogging it up and forcing the Caps to give up the puck to get it into the offensive zone as opposed to the puck possession game we have become familiar with.
Capitals next game is Sunday vs Chicago Blackhawks at United Center at 12:30 PM EST.
Capital Gain:
Former Capitals Barry Trotz was honored at the game…
Brooks Orpik played in his 1000th game and had a video tribute with ex-teammates including Sidney Crosby and musician Eddie Vedder.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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