The Capitals beat the Oilers, got some much needed confidence, and then lost to the Flames.
That's how it goes when over half of your lineup should be in the AHL.
The Capitals were pretty lucky to get by the Oilers who can't buy a goal despite putting up some really impressive peripheral numbers. Against the Capitals they continued their early season tradition of playing well and losing. The Capitals were only too happy to cash in, having gone five games without winning in regulation.
But against the Flames there was no chance.
Calgary controlled over 60% of the play and the score was extremely flattering to the Capitals.
But even so, Holtby, that is to say Grubauer, was great and the Flames needed the Capitals to take a bench minor late in the third to put the game away. The one bright spot for the Capitals is that if they can get great goaltending, they've got the firepower to win a few games. I don't think they'll make the Playoffs, but with Holtby, Kuznetsov, Ovechkin and Backstrom, it's not impossible.
#Caps have allowed at least 36 shots against 7x in 12 games this season. Matches their total from entire 82-game campaign last year
— Ben Raby (@BenRaby31) October 30, 2017
That's a bit crazy, but then again, who could survive the loss of four players like Shattenkirk, Niskanen, Alzner and Schmidt? Of course, Niskanen will be back, eventually, but for now he's on the IR along with Connolly and Burakovsky.
If the Capitals could turn off line-changes, they'd be alright. But this ain't EA Sports, so unfortunately, guys like Smith-Pelly and Orpik need to hit the ice.
The Capitals are off until Thursday when they play the Islanders.