Craig Laughlin said during the broadcast, that the Capitals deserved a lot of credit for keeping up with an elite team like the Canucks. But the Caps are also an elite team (when they pull themselves together), which should mean that they can regularly compete day-in and day-out with the other "elite" teams of the NHL. Knowing how the Caps can play, not how they have been playing, I thought that the first period was a bit sloppy.
They got the early lead that they were hoping for, but gave one up halfway through the period to make it a tied 1-1 at the end of the first. Only the Devils have fewer first period goals than the Capitals this season, a rather surprising statistic considering the offensive talent that they possess. Though they had more energy than they have had in recent games, it did not seem to equal what the Capitals usually bring to the plate. (In my personal opinion, they have been rather flat since the Winter Classic, going 1-3 for four games).
The Caps were out-shot and out-manned throughout the game. Varlamov was great, but Vancouver pelted him with shots and he gave up two more goals in the second, making it 3-1. All the goals were scored on breakaways, and aside from Matt Hendricks goal in the first period, there weren't many golden moments for the Caps. They sparkled occasionally, like on Eric Fehr's quick shot to Luongo, though it didn't go in. With 10:39 left in the 3rd, Marcus Johansson buried a slap-shot, bringing the Caps within one goal.
Varlamov was pulled in the final ninety second, but a pass caught Daniel Sedin behind the defense for the empty net. If there's one bright side to this loss, it's that the points went out west.
No comments:
Post a Comment