If Barry Trotz thought his team looked rusty in their season opening win against the Devils, then I'd hate to see what he thinks about last nights blow out loss to the Sharks.
The San Jose Sharks beat an Ovechkin and Backstrom-less Capitals 5-0 last night at Verizon.
It was an ugly came from Washington's perspective as nothing seemed to go right for them. From really bad calls to weak dump-ins, it seemed the Hockey Gods just didn't like anything about the Caps.
Martin Jones continued his shutout streak by stopping 31 Capitals shots. Dmitry Orlov did pierce Jones in the third, but the goal was called back after a coaches challenge by Pete DeBoer. Video showed that Jay Beagle brushed (and I mean BARELY) against Martin Jones and somehow impeded Jones' ability to play the puck (I think they used to call that a screen).
On the other end, Braden Holtby stopped 27-30 shots and looked a lot sharper than he did against the Devils. Goals by Joe Thornton, Mike Brown and Tomas Hertl were caused by poor coverage and defensive breakdowns.
The Sharks final two goals were empty-netters. Trotz pulled Holtby at the 3:45 mark of the third to try and generate some offense, but the Caps just could not get it together.
The absence of Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin was evident last night. The players looked lost at times and tried too hard to force plays. Without Ovechkin on the left side, the power plays were weakened. Backstom's direction was missed the most but Evgeny Kuznetsov held his own down low and did very well in Backstrom's place.
Backstrom will be seeing his doctor this week to get the 'OK' to resume playing. He has been practicing regularly now.
Ovechkin's absence is still a mystery. 'Personal Reasons' was the excuse given, but there hasn't been any word on what that entails. Ovechkin was, apparently, in the building last night, so that's a good sign that it might not be very serious and Barry Trotz expects to see him on the ice tomorrow night.
When asked about Ovechkin, Trotz had this to say, "“I’m sorry, it’s personal and that’s why it’s called personal. But he will be on the ice and I fully expect him to be playing against the Chicago Blackhawks."
The Caps definitely will need a boost tomorrow night against the Blackhawks and Patrick Kane, who has been on a tear of late.
It goes to show just how much this team leans on Ovechkin and the opportunities he creates not only for himself but for his teammates. The opposition is so concerned with not given Ovechkin any room, that they leave players like Oshie, Kuznetsov and Burakovsky wide open.
Let's hope the Caps can get it together and rebound for tomorrow night.
More to come...