Welcome to the Capitals Weekly as we look back at the past week for the Washington Capitals as they took on the Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Pittsburgh Penguins. Plus we take a look at news and storylines that took place during the week of April 3rd though April 9th.
- Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 – Minnesota Wild v. Washington Capitals
- The Capitals would open up the week against a red hot Minnesota Wild team, and 36 seconds into the game Joel Eriksson Ek would strike on the first shot of the game to give the Wild the 1-0 lead. Then 61 seconds later on the second shot of the game Tyson Jost would strike on another odd man break to grow the Wild’s lead to two. As the game would continue the Caps would settle into the game and they would start to control the play. They would produce nine shots on goal until they would get called for too many men on the ice to put the Wild on the first powerplay of the game. On the penalty kill the Caps would do a good job of keeping the Wild to only one shot on the powerplay, and keeping the Wild from generating any real chances as they would kill off the penalty.
- In the second period it would be a rather quiet period, but then after the midway point of the period Eriksson Ek would be left alone in front of the net to tuck a rebound past Vitek Vanecek to net his second of the game and grow the Wild’s lead to three. Then Evgeny Kuznetsov would get called for slashing as he would show his frustrations with the way the game has gone thus far for the Caps. On the penalty kill the Caps would allow only one shot on goal to keep the Wild’s lead to three.
- Then in the third period Marcus Foligno would score 30 seconds into the period to give the Wild the 4-0 lead. Then at the 10:30 mark Alex Ovechkin would let off a shot that would hit off of Garnet Hathaway‘s foot and past Cam Talbot to get the Caps on the board and end the shutout bid. Later in the period the Caps would go back to the box for too many men on the ice again to put the Wild back on the powerplay. After the penalty would be killed the Caps would pull the goalie and Nicolas Deslauriers would get the empty netter to give the Wild the 5-1 lead. Ryan Hartman would go to the box for slashing to put the Caps on their first powerplay of the game. The Caps would not capitalize on the poweprlay and the Wild would hold on for the 5-1 victory over the Capitals.
- Wednesday, April 6th, 2022 – Tampa Bay Lightning v. Washington Capitals
- Coming off their embarrassing loss to Minnesota and a series of player only meetings, the Capitals would host the Tampa Bay Bay Lightning. In the first period the Caps would be moving their feet and generating solid zone time in the Bolts end, and the Caps would strike first as a result as John Carlson would fake a shot to throw off the Tampa defenders and pass the puck to Martin Fehervary who would bury the puck to give the Caps the 1-0 lead 5:10 into the game. 38 seconds later Ross Colton would shoot the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty which with 10 seconds left on the powerplay for the Caps it would be Carlson with the one time blast from the point to grow the Caps lead to two. 63 seconds later there would be some chaos in the Caps end as Ilya Samsonov would lose his stick, and had two opportunities to reclaim his stick but didn’t, and the Caps defenders would fail to clear the zone as Nikita Kucherov would snipe one past Samsonov to bring the Lightning back within one. Later in the period Alex Ovechkin would jam one home as he would shoot one through the defenders feet and off the crossbar and in to give the Capitals their two goal lead back. The goal would give Ovechkin his 1400th career NHL point. However, less than two minutes later Nick Paul would strike for the Bolts to get back within one.
- In the second period Cal Foote would go to the box for delay of game, but this time on the powerplay the Caps would not strike. Later in the period Lars Eller would get called for slashing, but while on the penalty kill Brayden Point would take a slashing call himself to nullify the Bolts powerplay opportunity. On the powerplay Carlson would net his second of the game with a beautiful snipe from between the faceoff circles to put the Caps back up by two.
- Then in the third period things would get chippy as both teams would trade powerplays. Colton would go to the box early for interfering with Tom Wilson to put the Caps on their fourth powerplay of the game. The Caps would not score and shortly after the powerplay expired Nic Dowd would go to the box for hooking. While on this powerplay both Victor Hedman and Evgeny Kuznetsov would both get called for slashing, but would keep the Bolts on the man advantage. Late in the period Dowd would go back into the box for cross checking and on this powerplay Colton would score from the faceoff dot past Samsonov to bring the Bolts back within one. In the final two minutes of the period Tom Wilson would charge for a loose puck but Andrei Vasilevskiy would dive out and accidentally trip him for a two minute minor and for the Caps fifth powerplay of the game. The powerplay would get wiped out though as TJ Oshie would get called for hooking, and both teams would play 4 on 4 to finish the game which would see the Capitals hold on to defeat the Lightning 4-3.
- Saturday, April 9th, 2022 – Washington Capitals v. Pittsburgh Penguins
- I missed this game due to travelling to New York City to see the New York Rangers take on the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden so I present to you Dickson’s recap from this morning’s (Sunday) Daily.
- In the Steel City, the Capitals look to knock off the Penguins and in the first period the Penguins get on the board when Bryan Rust nets his 24th of the year but then the Capitals tie the game when Marcus Johansson nets his seventh of the year. Washington will take the 2-1 lead after Dmitry Orlov nets his 11th of the year but then Pittsburgh ties the game when Jeff Carter gets his 17th of the year. Bryan Boyle then strikes to give the Pens the lead with his 10th of the year. In the second, Alex Ovechkin nets his 44th of the year to tie the game. In the third, Washington takes the lead for good when Tom Wilson nets his 22nd of the year and then the Caps take the 5-3 lead when Evgeny Kuznetsov strikes for his 23rd of the year. Washington wraps up the game when Martin Fehervary hits the empty net with his seventh of the year as the Capitals double up the Penguins 6-3.
News and Notes
- Ovi records 1400th Point
- On Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning Ovechkin would score his 43rd goal of the season record his 1400th career NHL point.
Storylines
- Players Look to Right the Ship
- After being embarrassed two games in a row the players would hold multiple player only meetings to get their game back on track.
Upcoming Schedule
Sunday, April 10th, 2022 – v. Boston Bruins – 130p ET
TV: TNT, SN360, TVAS
Tuesday, April 12th, 2022 – v. Philadelphia Flyers – 7p ET
TV: ESPN
Thursday, April 14th, 2022 – @ Toronto Maple Leafs – 7p ET
TV: NBCSWA, TVAS, TSN4
Saturday, April 16th, 2022 – @ Montreal Canadiens – 7p ET
TV: NBCSWA, CITY, SNE, TVAS
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