Last night the Washington Capitals lost in Overtime to the Tampa Bay Lighting, 4-3.
The Lighting jumped out of the gate and destroyed the Capitals in the first period to the tune of 63%, and it didn't get any better. The Capitals finished the night having controlled only 35% of the play.
But as it's hockey and the best team doesn't always win, the Capitals were actually winning 2-0 after the first.
And , if it wasn't for two bench minors, one late in the third, and one in overtime, they might very well have escaped with an undeserved victory.
The Caps are now 2-0-1 after three games. Ovechkin failed to score for the first time this season.
Of note is just how badly several Capitals players played last night:
Ovechkin, was on the ice for four shot-attempts for and 20 against. Brutal.
The Line of Vrana, OV and Kuznetsov was objectively terrible. If possible, Orlov, Ness and Chorny were even worse.
I know the seven goals for Ovechkin thing is dominating the Caps-talk right now, but a team that has half their defense playing at below replacement level isn't going anywhere, and I think last nights game will prove to be what we see most nights this year when we watch the Capitals.
A bright spot has been Nathan Walker, who is both the first Austrailian to play in the NHL and the first to score a goal. He only played for seven minutes last night, but was at 60%, so he was at least not hurting the team.
The same can't be said for Ovechkin who played like he thought he had earned a night off.
If not for Grubaur, who made 36 saves, this game would have been a complete beatdown.
Washington plays the Penguins on Wednesday.
Stats from naturalstattrick.com