Caps Listless In 7-4 Loss To Canucks
After starting a franchise best 7-0, the Washington Capitals lost their 2nd game in a row last night on their short 2-game road trip to the Great North. Losing 2-1 to a good, young, fast Edmonton squad was excruciating enough, but last night was, to put it bluntly, a pathetic display. There were mistakes made all over the ice, so I’m going to make this as succinct as possible. The details:
Vancouver goes up 1-0 at 3:31 of the 1st period. It was a pretty poor goal, too. Vokuhn tried to come out and play the puck behind the goal. Big mistake. Maxim Lapierre bounces it off Vokuhn’s back to add insult to injury. Three minutes later, the Caps get on the board as Ovechkin fought his way to the net and basically bounced the puck off Luongo for the score. 1-1.
Vancouver was very physical throughout the period, threw out some crushing checks. The Caps played some lazy hockey, which resulted in several penalties. I’d like to point out Semin as one culprit of this lazy play, as well as the PK line of Chimera-Brouwer-Carlson-Alzner. They were just plain bad, and Carlson had one of his worst nights as a Cap. Sorry, folks, calling it like it is. No sugar-coating here. Vancouver gets two PPGs, one right at the end of the 1st period to go up 3-1.
2nd period begins, Vokuhn is benched and Michal Neuvirth comes in. Vokuhn has played every game since the first, so honestly, I think he has to be a bit fatigued. Not a spring chicken. He had no help from his teammates in the 1st period, but a spark was needed. It seemed to work too, as the Caps scored two unanswered goals. One a rocket from Ovechkin (easily has the quickest release in the NHL) on the PP, and the second on a penalty shot by Mike Knuble. 3-3 now, and the Caps playing much better overall. Vancouver goes up 4-3 at 8:00, and the shootout begins.The Caps tie it up late in the period on a beautiful wrist shot from the right wing. Just a great skate up the ice by MJ90. It all went downhill from here.
On yet another PP, Canucks score. During the scramble in front, Neuvirth had a chance to clamp down on the puck, but didn’t. He has to get that done there. 5-4, Canucks. Not even a minute later, Caps defenseman Sean Collins, up to replace injured Mike Green, forgets how to skate backwards (kind of a requirement for a defenseman), falls, and Chris Higgins skates in on a two on one and scores, 6-4. The Canucks final tally was a microcosm of the Caps performance. Semin (again) lazy, doesn’t get back after a Caps PP was just expiring, odd man rush for Vancouver, 7-4 and it’s all over but the crying with nine minutes to go.
Caps worst performance since the Lightning game, by far. They followed up a 9-penalty game with a 6-penalty one. Got outshot 43-32. Just beat in all phases of the game. Back at the Verizon Center on Tuesday for the tilt versus Anaheim. Much needed home cooking. See you then.
