NHL

It Wasn’t Just One Thing: Capitals Lose to Devils

by
Former Writers
October 13, 2018

NHL

It Wasn’t Just One Thing: Capitals Lose to Devils

Not every night can be a good night. Not every night the reigning Stanley Cup Champions can look like Stanley Cup Champions. Thursday night’s 6-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils stung, but it won’t be the last bad game this season. Hopefully, the Capitals can chalk this one up to a terrible schedule and move on.

Both goals in the first period came from Kyle Palmieri and it wasn’t too much of a surprise. Palmieri contributed a pair of goals when the Devils were playing in the NHL Global Series in Gothenburg, Sweden. Being on home ice brought the same results. Former Capital forward Marcus Johansson had the only goal in the second, a snapshot just under the crossbar. By that point, things already looked bleak for the Capitals, but three goals in the third sealed it.

Defensive Blunders

Those six goals cannot be blamed on poor goaltending alone. Blake Coleman’s goal – the Devils’ fourth of the night – snuck underneath Pheonix Copley’s arm where he didn’t seal enough of the space between himself and the post. That was one Copley would have liked to get back, but there were only a couple that were his fault.

Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen both ended the night at -3. The duo struggled to keep the puck away from the front of the net. John Carlson, arguably the Capitals’ best defenseman and a decent piece to their penalty kill, took two penalties. The hockey gods threw the Capitals the smallest bone because the Devils scored on only one of their four power plays of the night.

If the defense doesn’t show up to play, the goalie cannot be held entirely responsible for the team’s failings. The final shots looked lopsided: 36-21 in favor of the Devils. Some of those shots should have been blocked so Copley wouldn’t have had to face them.

Moving Forward

It was a bad night. Full stop. There wasn’t one particular thing to blame for the loss. It was the defense, Copley’s first game of the season, a lack of scoring, and a grueling opening schedule. The Capitals played a fast game against the Vegas Golden Knights the evening before while the Devils had just returned from a week off. Playing a rested team using your back-up goalie on the tail end of a back-to-back. It was a scheduled loss.

This doesn’t look like the start of the Stanley Cup hangover that everyone was anticipating. Center Lars Eller said, “I think you just remind yourself that things aren’t as bad as they look just because of one night.” He’s right. It’s one game out of 82. Not only that, it’s only the fourth game of those 82. There’s a long road ahead and one night isn’t a curse on the rest of the season.

Up Next

The Capitals face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night back at Capital One Arena. This game isn’t going to be any easier. They at least have a day’s rest between games, but the Leafs scoring has been outrageous. Braden Holtby will be back in net facing off against Frederik Andersen and he’s going to have to be a bit more controlled. Based on last season, he had a tendency to let in around four goals a game. If the Capitals’ stars can get their legs back in this one, it’s all going to be up to each team’s goalies to get them the win.

Acquiring John Tavares in the offseason has only made Toronto a more successful team. Let’s not forget that the second line center is Auston Matthews. The same Matthews who already leads the league with nine goals after just five games. In second is – you guessed it – John Tavares with five. And with Morgan Reilly’s start to the season, it’s entirely possible he will be contributing offensively as well as defensively.

The Capitals need to come out fast and strike first. “Starting on time” has always been a problem for the Leafs. It takes a good 10 minutes into the game before they start settling in. If the Capitals can score one or two goals in that span, it is going to give them a better cushion to work with for the rest of the game.