Preview

Reeling Caps Move on to Face Flames

Alex Ovechkin has a chance to break the all-time points record in franchise history on Tuesday night. (Caps Outsider)

Your Washington Capitals (4-5-2, 10 pts) suffered their fourth straight regulation loss when they were defeated by the Arizona Coyotes (4-6-1, 9 pts) 6-5 Sunday night at the Verizon Center. Tom Wilson, John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, Joel Ward, and Troy Brouwer provided the five goals for the Caps. Nicklas Backstrom passed Dale Hunter (375) for fourth place on the team’s all-time assists list.

I was very displeased with how sloppy the team performed in this game especially after gaining a 3-1 lead late in the 1st period. In this game the Caps committed nine penalties, which gave Arizona’s 6th ranked power play unit nine glowing opportunities to score. Some positives though for this team are that they are 5th in the league with 3.1 goals per game and have the 2nd best power play unit at 28.9%. This offers some hope that if the team cleans up the sloppy play and defensive struggles then they can really turn it around and possibly get hot.

The Caps end their short two game home stand Tuesday night at the Verizon Center against the Calgary Flames (7-4-2, 16pts). This is a team the Caps have already played and beaten this season, which offers some optimism. The Flames are in better shape now though, as they are second in the Pacific Division. This will not be an easy game to win, and if the Caps continue the sloppiness then they will most likely pay for it. Hopefully coach Barry Trotz lit a fire under the team with postgame remarks.

Three things to watch:

  1. How will the Caps respond to coach Trotz’s message after their fourth straight loss?
  1. Can the offense have success against Flames’ goaltender Jonas Hiller who is 5th in the league with a 1.84 goals allowed average?
  1. Will Ovi break Peter Bondra’s Caps scoring record in this game?

LET’S GO CAPS!!!

Jordan Teixeira

Jordan Teixeira is an eighteen year-old freshman at the University of Maryland College Park from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. He plans on majoring in Broadcast Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. He is also a graduate of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Related Articles

Back to top button