Not much to this one, only three goals combined and lots of tight defensive play. A Dale Hunter type of game for sure, except they didn't come away with a win for Dale Hunter.
That first goal probably defines this season. It comes out of nowhere and everybody, most of all the goalie is left standing around wondering what the hell happened. It was scored by an Avalanche winger by the name of Cody McLeod who apparently hadn't scored in some 37 games. Maybe Michal Neuvirth had his head in the McLeods on that one for all we know. The winning goal was scored by defenseman Erik Johnson. He broke a 38 game goal scoring drought with that one. You know the moral of this story as well as I do: In a slump? Play the Caps, we'll help you out.
To be fair the defensive game for the Caps was otherwise stellar. They could have allowed a few less shots, but it wasn't as if they played a horrible game. Of course it was two lapses in concentration totaling just over a minute's worth of game time that did them in. But in the NHL, that's how fast things happen.
Speaking of slump, it was nice to see Alexander Semin get on the board finally after so long. Too bad his goal only held up for all of 54 seconds. Something else from the "Fat Lot of Good that Did" department:
Marcus Johansson was the only Cap who finished the game winning more than half of his faceoff draws.
Semin has proven to be a streaky player in his days here. We had all better hope that he gets on another hot streak because the rest of the offense has suddenly (well maybe not suddenly) gone cold.
Jeff Schultz was scratched again last night...no surprise there. Barring an injury I think we've seen the last of him for this year. Now if only someone were willing to pick up the last two years of that contract he's on....
It was hard not to get fired up watching Matt Hendricks in his scrap with Cody McLeod, got to love the never-say-die mentality. But it needs to become a bit more infectious and believe it or not, time is already starting to run out as we're approaching the halfway point of the season.
According to Joe B and Locker, Matthieu Perreault had to leave the game due to an illness. Hope that includes being sick of having no offensive impact.
While the Caps didn't get blown out, the end result is still the same. This was a game where they should have come away with at least a point, but failed. If they miss the playoffs--and it's beginning to look like they're on pace to do so--they can look back on games like this and figure out why.
Just to let you know, yes I realize I've included some extra sarcasm in my commentary. It's only because I figured the Caps could start building something good off of the crowd-quieting win against the Jets. They didn't. One has to wonder whether or not that will be the hallmark of this year's Washington Capitals--snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They were playing a team that's damn near scraping the bottom of their conference and they let them walk away with the two points.
When are they finally going to look in the mirror and figure it out?
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