Caps vs Flyers Recap
Two games into the round-robin, the Capitals are still searching for any form of life and consistency. The effort last night simply not there. This was arguably the slowest game I have watched all tournament from any team, and that includes the exhibition games! Now give credit where credit is due, the Flyers earned that win. The Flyers clearly want the #1 seed and good for them for bringing it every night in what is arguably a meaningless round-robin round.
Three takeaways from the game:
1. The Good – Braden Holtby wasn’t just good, he was GREAT. I am very excited with his level of play and confidence thus far in this tournament. The Flyers may have only had 21 shots, but it felt like every other breakout they were getting a 2on1 or 3on1 and Holtby was forced to make some acrobatic sprawling saves. It is easy to see why the previous two games between these two clubs were 7-2 and 5-2 in favor of the Flyers. This game could have easily been 7-1. Huge props to Holtby for keeping the Caps in it. Holtby was a big question mark entering the postseason for me. He has showed me he is back in playoff form and that should give the entire team a huge boost of confidence and excitement for the first round. Holtby still has the 6th best playoff SV% of ALL-TIME at .927 in 91 games. He also has given up 2-goals or less in 62% of the 91 games he’s played in the postseason. These are some filthy stats if I don’t say so myself. Happy to have you back, Holtby. Now if the defense can just play a little better in front of you…
2. The Bad – The Capitals really struggled to generate any offense last night. The Flyers are the #1 in the league when it comes to limiting opponents’ shots attempts. They only allow 28.7 shots per game and that was on full display last night. The Capitals only mustered 17 total shots on goal the entire game. Any time the Caps had any positive momentum, they would just take a penalty. I once again have to give Philly a ton of credit here. Philly had a strong forecheck, a suffocating penalty kill, and created a ton of high danger chances on their breakouts. The effort and sense of urgency just wasn’t there for the Caps tonight.
3. The Ugly – Penalties! Holy shirt n pants…The Caps could not stay out of the box! If you have read my blog before you have heard me rant about the Capitals penalty troubles. During the regular season, the Capitals took the most minor penalties in the league at 267 penalties. The Caps took seven minor penalties during the game yesterday, all seven of the penalties occurred in the first two periods. This is nothing new for Caps fans and it just disappointing to see how undisciplined the team is at times. On the bright side, the Penalty kill was pretty rock solid once again. The PK was 6 for 6. It wasn’t pretty but they got the job done.
Big takeaway: In three “postseason” games so far, the Capitals have not showed any sign of playoff style desperation. While our goaltending and penalty kill have been a huge bright spot, the lack of discipline and willingness to give a full 60-minute effort is very troublesome. My fear right now is that the teams that win their qualifying round matchups will have a significant advantage in the first round. The Capitals have a hard-enough time closing out series’ when they are ahead 2-0, they really can’t afford a slow start against whoever they play in the first round.
Next game is Sunday against the Bruins where the two teams battle it out for the 3rd seed in the round-robin standings.
Thanks for reading. Go Caps!
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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