Welcome to the Capitals Weekly as we look back at the past week for the Washington Capitals as they took on the Columbus Blue Jackets and Montreal Canadiens. Plus we take a look at news and storylines that took place during the week of February 6th through 12th.

Tuesday, February 8th, 2022 – Columbus Blue Jackets v. Washington Capitals
- Back from the All Star break the Washington Capitals would play host to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Caps would start off sluggish, and 5:24 into the game Sean Kuraly would go to the box for interference to send the Caps to the powerplay, but boy oh boy was that powerplay pathetic. The faceoff win was great, but it was too strong and set the Caps back, and then John Carlson did the slingshot… just stop doing that already John. It doesn’t work. Overall the powerplay would be a disaster, but the Caps would swing the momentum their way as they would outshoot the Jackets 11 to 4 for the period. Late in the period Garnet Hathaway would get a piece of a bouncing rebound to get the Caps on the board with the 1-0 lead.
- In the second period the Caps would only need 40 seconds as Nic Dowd would score after having his pass hit off a Jackets defender and into the net to grow the Caps lead to two. Later the Caps would go back to the powerplay, and this time they would generate some good opportunities, but Carlson would get called for tripping and end the Caps powerplay prematurely. On the Jackets powerplay opportunity Patrik Laine would strike to get Columbus back within one. Then moments later the Caps would go shorthanded once again when Nicklas Backstrom would get called for holding. As the powerplay was ending Adam Boqvist would strike to tie the game at two. Late in the period the Caps would go back onto the powerplay, and this time it would be Evgeny Kuznetsov with a beautiful snipe from the faceoff circle to give the Caps the 3-2 lead. However, the Caps would go shorthanded and with 3 seconds left in the period Laine would net his second powerplay goal of the period to tie the game at three.
- Then in the third period Trey Fix-Wolansky would net his first career NHL goal as it would squeak through Pheonix Copley thus ending his night as Ilya Samsonov would come in to finish the game for the Caps. Shortly after scoring the goal the Jackets would go back to the box, and for the third time the Caps would fail to capitalize on the powerplay. Late in the period with Samsonov pulled for the extra attacker All Star Stanley Cup Champion Tom Wilson would rip a bullet for his 14th of the season to tie the game at four, but Boone Jenner would strike to give the Blue Jackets the 5-4 victory over the Capitals.

Final from tonight.#CapsJackets pic.twitter.com/668ftBeLHc
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 9, 2022

Thursday, February 10th, 2022 – Washington Capitals v. Montreal Canadiens
- Before an empty arena, and without their captain, the Washington Capitals would head to Montreal to take on the Canadiens, and in the first period the Caps would play with some good pace to their game, and at 5:04 Joe Snively would net his first career NHL goal to give the Caps the 1-0 lead. Twenty seconds later Connor McMichael would net his seventh of the season to grow the Caps lead to two. Moments later the Caps would go on the powerplay as Ben Chiarot would go to the box for interference, but even against a really bad Canadiens team the Caps wouldn’t be very good with the opportunity. Midway through the period Dmitry Orlov would go to the box, but the Caps would be up to the task, and would even get some good scoring chances as they would kill the penalty.
- In the second period Carl Hagelin would score a goal scorers goal as he would snipe on a sharp angle to grow the Caps lead to three, but Rem Pitlick would score 29 seconds later when chaos would reign in Ilya Samsonov’s crease to get the Habs on the board and back within one. However, Snively would be set loose by Evgeny Kuznetsov and would net his second of the game to regain the three goal lead. With the goal the Caps would chase Cayden Primeau from the Montreal net as Sam Montembeault would come in relief. Then both the Caps and Habs would trade powerplay opportunities, but late in the period while on their third powerplay of the game Cole Caufield would strike to get the Habs back within two.
- Then in the third period the Caps would give the Canadiens a few more powerplay opportunities, but they would keep the Habs off the board. The Caps would get an abbreviated powerplay opportunity, but wouldn’t do anything with it. Caufield would strike for what he thought would be his second of the game, but it would be called back on a coach’s challenge for offside. Near the end of regulation Tom Wilson would net his 15th of the season to give the Capitals the 5-2 victory over the Canadiens.

Dub secured.#CapsHabs | #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/lr13gZpYIi
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 11, 2022

News and Notes

Anthony Mantha is skating before team practices. Mantha, who had shoulder surgery earlier in the season, still has no current timeline, but is hopeful to be back by the time the playoffs start.

Storylines

The Powerplay continues to struggle once again. Evgeny Kuznetsov had a nice powerplay goal against Columbus, and there were flashes of good chances to get the puck on net, but overall it’s still an abysmal powerplay. It was especially telling against Montreal when John Carlson was pressured heavily into turning the puck over when setting up the moronic slingshot. And one would think that for one game without Alex Ovechkin that we’d see a different style for the powerplay, but nope, Blaine Forsythe kept it the same predictable way.