Game Recap – 12/4/2018 – Washington Capitals v. Vegas Golden Knights

Washington Capitals (15-8-3 33pts) v. Vegas Golden Knights (14-13-1 29pts)

 

Game Recap:

Former Washington Capital Nate Schmidt would net the late game winner and an empty netter to seal the deal for the Vegas Golden Knights against the Capitals, making their return to Vegas an unsuccessful one. The Capitals were unable to capitalize on their powerplay opportunities, and put themselves into penalty trouble once again.

 

Lineups:

Washington Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Nicklas Backstrom — Tom Wilson

Jakub Vrana — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Brett Connolly

Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Devante Smith-Pelly

Chandler Stephenson — Nic Dowd — Dmitrij Jaskin

Michal Kempny — John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

Braden Holtby

Pheonix Copley

Scratched: Jonas Siegenthaler, Travis Boyd

Injured: T.J. Oshie (concussion), Brooks Orpik (knee surgery)

 

Vegas Golden Knights:

Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith

Oscar Lindberg — Cody Eakin — Alex Tuch

Daniel Carr — Tomas Nosek — Ryan Carpenter

William Carrier — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb — Nate Schmidt

Shea Theodore — Deryk Engelland

Nick Holden — Colin Miller

Marc-Andre Fleury

Malcolm Subban

Scratched: Jon Merrill, Brad Hunt, Max Pacioretty

Injured: Erik Haula (lower body), Paul Stastny (lower body)

 

First Period:

Capitals Penalty – 1:03 – Brett Connolly 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

Golden Knights PPG – 2:30 – Ryan Reaves (6) from Cody Eakin (8) and Oscar Lindberg (1)

Capitals Penalty – 8:05 – Madison Bowey 2 minutes for Holding

Golden Knights Penalty – 9:43 – Bench (Daniel Carr) 2 minutes for Too Many Men

Capitals Goal – 15:33 – Jakub Vrana (7) from Brett Connolly (11)

Capitals Penalty – 19:44 – Nic Dowd 2 minutes for Tripping

 

End of 1st – WAS – 1      VGK – 1

Shots             09                 07

Faceoffs        07                 19

Hits               09                 20

PP                 0/1                1/2 *3rd in Progress

 

Analysis:

This was an ok period for the Capitals. They’ve gotten themselves into penalty trouble which allowed Vegas to take the 1-0 lead and a powerplay to start the second period. The Capitals are not doing well in the faceoff circle and they are being physically dominated by the Golden Knights in the hits category. However, they have responded well and got a good goal from Jakub Vrana to tie the game.

 

Need to Do:

The Capitals need to kill off this penalty, and then stay out of the box and stop giving the Golden Knights opportunities. Also the Capitals need to do a much better job in faceoff circle and pick up their physical play as they were horribly dominated in hits.

 

Second Period:

Capitals Penalty – 8:35 – Evgeny Kuznetsov 2 minutes for Illegal Equipment

Capitals Goal -11:42 – Alex Ovechkin (20) from Brett Connolly (12) and Madison Bowey (5)

Golden Knights Penalty – 15:42 – Ryan Reaves 5 minutes for Interference

Golden Knights Penalty – 15:42 – Ryan Reaves – Game Misconduct

 

End of 2nd – WAS – 2    VGK – 1

Shots             18                 17

Faceoffs        18                 26

Hits               22                 35

PP                 0/2                1/4

 

Analysis:

This was a better period for the Capitals as they were better in the faceoff circle and they also were able to get the lone goal of the period. However, they were still dominated in the hits category, plus they did not do much with their lone powerplay which was a 5 minute one.

 

Need to Do:

The Capitals need to keep on pressing the play, and play a full 20 minutes. Also the Capitals need to do a much better job with their powerplay opportunities.

 

Third Period:

Golden Knights Goal – 2:33 – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (4) from Brayden McNabb (3) and Nate Schmidt (2)

Golden Knights Goal – 2:49 – Cody Eakin (11) from Oscar Lindberg (2) and Deryk Engelland (4)

Golden Knights Penalty – 3:53 – Colin Miller 2 minutes for High Sticking

Golden Knights Penalty – 7:14 – Jonathan Marchessault 2 minutes for Slashing

Capitals Goal – 11:40 – Jakub Vrana (8) from Evgeny Kuznetsov (18) and Matt Niskanen (9)

Capitals Penalty – 14:46 – Nic Dowd 4 minutes for High Sticking

Golden Knights PPG – 18:35 – Nate Schmidt (1) from Shea Theodore (12)

Golden Knights ENG – 19:53 – Nate Schmidt (2) from unassisted

 

End of 3rd – WAS – 3    VGK – 5

Shots             26                 28

Faceoffs        26                 37

Hits               40                 41

PP                 0/4                2/6

 

Analysis:

This was a letdown of a period for the Capitals. They gave up two goals in a span of 16 seconds in the first 3 minutes of the period, and did not play with much gusto throughout the period.

 

Next Up:

Washington (15-9-3 33pts) @ Arizona (13-11-2 28pts)

Vegas (15-13-1 31pts) v. Chicago (9-14-5 23pts)