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Caps 4, Islanders 8 - Barzal and Co. Breakout vs the Caps

April 2, 2021, 6:59 AM ET [3 Comments]
Brian Sickles
Washington Capitals Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Hello All,

Holy shirts n pants, that was a butt whooping if I have ever seen one! The New York Islanders came to play last night, and the Capitals did not get the memo I guess. After a couple rough games and a couple slow starts against the Penguins over the weekend, you knew the Islanders were going to be revved up to bounce back against the Capitals, a team they have traditionally played very well against the last couple of seasons. The Capitals entered last night’s game with a 3-0-0 record against the Islanders. This record is really a mirage of how the previous games went. For example, on January 26th, the Islanders blew a 3-0 lead against the Capitals and it took a miracle comeback for the Capitals to win. In the three games these two teams have played this season the Capitals have been the slightly better team to date. The game last night was just an all-out blitz from the New York Islanders and their top-line. I have to give credit and respect to the Islanders, they came to play! Parts of this game reminded me of the playoffs last season when the Islanders would just get the puck in deep, cycle the puck with speed and precision, and outwork the Capitals.

Here are the stats from the game:

Shots on Goal:

WSH – 22

NYI – 33


Shots on Goal (5v5):

WSH – 18

NYI – 32


Faceoff %:

WSH – 50%

NYI – 50%


Power Play:

WSH – 1/1

NYI – 0/2


Hits:

WSH – 26

NYI - 20


Blocks:

WSH – 8

NYI– 15


Scoring Chances For:

WSH – 24

NYI – 29



Scoring Chances For (5v5):

WSH – 21

NYI – 29



High Danger Chances For:

WSH – 6

NYI – 17


High Danger Chances For: (5v5):

WSH – 3

NYI – 17


Takeaways:

WSH - 2

NYI – 10

Here are my takeaways from the game:

New York Islanders Top Line – The top line of Komarov-Barzal-Eberle for the Islanders absolutely laid the smackdown on the Capitals last night. Matt Barzal had 3G-2A, Eberle had 2G-1A, and Komorov had 0G-1A. In total the top line for the Islanders had nine points. Pause for a second...Leo Komorov is on the Islanders top line?! lol. The Capitals really had no answer for this line all night. When the top line for the Islanders was on the ice, the Capitals were stuck in their zone frantically trying to keep up with the speedy cycle. According to naturalstattrick, Matt Barzal had 8 shots on goal, five of which were “high danger” scoring chances. Barzal could have easily had at least five goals this game. He did not convert on a breakaway earlier in the game and he had another high danger chance that he failed to convert on. On the Capitals side of things, they really had no answer for this top line all night.

High Danger Chances– This may have been the most lop-sided I have seen the “high danger” chances against the Capitals this season. At 5v5, the New York Islanders held a 17-3 “high danger” chance advantage. This is easily the biggest margin of chances the Capitals gave up all season.

Quick Responses by NYI Kills Capitals Momentum – The Capitals did enough to keep themselves in the game last night. As bad of a butt whooping it was, the Capitals would occasionally chip away at the lead and bring it back to a 2-goal game. To the Islanders credit last night, every time the Capitals scored, the Islanders would get a quick response goal of their own. Here is amount of time it took for the Islanders to score after each Capitals goal:

Jordan Eberle – 4:01 after a Capitals goal. This goal tied the game 1-1

Matt Barzal – 0:59 after a Capitals goal. This goal gave the Islanders a 4-2 lead with 1:07 left in the first period

Jordan Eberle – 1:21 after a Capitals goal. This goal gave the Islanders a 6-3 midway through the 2nd

Josh Bailey – 4:12 after a Capitals goal. This goal gave the Islanders a 7-4 lead early in the third period. This goal was an absolute back breaker for the Capitals

John Carlson – Not all was terrible last night. John Carlson did have a great game offensively. Carlson scored two goals last night which puts him at nine on the season. Nine goals ties Carlson for 4th in the league and his 31 points (9G-22A) also ranks him 4th in the league. On Carlson’s second goal, he joined Vrana and Sprong on the rush and finished off the play down low in front of Varlamov after some nifty passing from Vrana and Sprong. This is just another example of Peter Laviolette’s system and having his defensemen join the offensive rush. When Carlson was on the ice last night, the Capitals had a 10-9 shot advantage over the Islanders. The Carlson-Dillon combo was on the ice for 4 GA but the line was also on the ice for 3 GF.

Leaky Defense– The Capitals have now given up 17 goals in their last seven periods of hockey. That is 2.43 goals against per period over the last seven periods. That is 5.66 GAA per game. It is a small sample size but just very indicative of the state of the defense and goaltending at the moment. This was easily the worst performance by the collective defense all season and quite frankly the entire team just looked out of sorts in their own zone. Man 1on1 50-50 battles in the Capitals own end were lost and ultimately led to a majority of the Islanders goals.

The Capitals Islanders square off four more times in the next month. Gear up cause its gonna be a doozy.

Mood.

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