Courtesy: WashingtonTimes.com
The Washington Capitals were able to string together their second-straight victory with a 5-4 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Centre, but it wasn’t the most savvy performance on the defensive end.
First, the positives. Goalie Braden Holtby was standing on his head once again, stopping 43 shots for Washington. Given that the defense in front of him was virtually nonexistant, the 24-year-old had to rise to the occasion and be the best goaltender on the ice. Also, captain Alexander Ovechkin tallied his NHL-leading eighth and ninth goals to help propel the Capitals on offense.
However, his goals weren’t enough in regulation as it took a shootout goal from forward Martin Erat to lift the Caps to a 5-4 victory in overtime. Usually, when you score four regulation goals, you should win comfortably… not the Capitals.
This isn’t an indictment on them for finding a way to inch back to a game within .500 hockey at 4-5-0 through nine games. Washington just has to play better defense and get more consistent zone play on both ends if they expect to be a serious contender this spring in the NHL Playoffs.
There are numerous issues with the Capitals defensively, but it unfortunately starts at the top with the pairing of Mike Green and Nate Schmidt. There simply wasn’t enough energy from these guys, which is uncharacteristic especially for Green. It makes sense to put the young Schmidt up with Green as he can learn a little bit from Washington’s top defenseman. Yesterday was certainly not a game to take down notes, and Caps head coach Adam Oates made the executive decision to sit Green after allowing the Jets to infiltrate the zone with relative ease of the game-tying goal in the third period. When your No. 1 defensive unit struggles, it’s going to echo throughout the team.
The Capitals defensively looked as if they were disinterested in skating with the Jets, who simply fed of the energy of the crowd as they always do in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Better hockey teams would have buried the Capitals and Washington is fortunate they didn’t. But, the Jets aren’t the first team to dominate Washington in their own zone and create numerous scoring chances from all over the ice. They also aren’t the first team to outskate the Capitals and play with open-ice chances seemingly each possession. Just ask the Calgary Flames and New York Rangers about their contests against the boys from D.C. and they’ll say it wasn’t that hard to do as they pleased.
That being said, Washington bent but didn’t break as they received nice contributions from all over the ice offensively. Sure, Ovechkin will snag the headines, but whenever you get a goal from Mikhail Grabovski, two assists from Marcus Johnasson, a power play goal from Troy Brouwer and Nicklas Backstrom adding another assist? That’s when you know that the team is able to be multi-faceted.
That being said, before the Capitals take the ice against the Edmonton Oilers, who they already defeated 4-2 at Verizon Center earlier this month, they must make a few adjustments defensively and should probably focus on their skating. It wouldn’t surprise a lot of people if Oates had his players skating, more than handling the puck and working on offensive plays because those opportunities are always there. Actually establishing possession and beating opponents to 50-50 pucks remains tough sledding for the boys in red.
The puck drops at 9:30 PM EST Thursday in Edmonton.
