Darcy Kuemper played one of the better games I’ve seen him play as a Capital last night.
Darcy stopped 38 of 40 shots including a stellar 3rd period onslaught by the Devils which he had to make save after save just to survive the third period to reach OT.
But as I mentioned in the title his performance was not enough to seal the victory as the Caps went goalless in the shootout portion of the game losing with a final of 3-2 to New Jersey.
Overall, the Caps battled and showed a lot of heart against a young, fast, and talented Devils team who was one of the worst teams in hockey just a few years ago. Crazy to think how fast they turned their team around into a Cup contending favorite this season.
The Caps were able to get on the board first with a nice wrist shot tic tac toe deflection off a Devils defender by Trevor van Riemsdyk to give the games only goal in the first period of play.
This was TVR’s 7th goal of the season and has recorded 7 points in his last 14 games with 3 goals and 4 assists.
The Devils then scored two unanswered goals to take a 2-1 lead in the second period, until a nice little gritty goal by Dylan Strome in-front of the NJ goalie by poking the puck while it was in mid air to tie the game 2 a piece.
This was Strome’s 15th goal of the season which extends his point streak to 3 games which includes 2 goals and 3 assists during this span.
A scoreless but eventful and NJ dominated offensive third brought the game to overtime.
I am honestly shocked our boys were abled to survive that 3rd period because it felt like the Devils were on the powerplay during 5v5 hockey the majority of the time and that just comes with NJ being one of the faster teams in the NHL and the Caps being one of the slowest lol.
Even with a lackluster showing in the shootout with zero goals there were some positives to takeaway from at least getting one point last night.
Guys like Sandin, Milano, Sheary, and Strome show how important it is to have speed on the roster and that’s where I think those moves at the deadline were great for the long term for the Caps. Does it suck to lose Orlov and Hathaway….yes BUT we getting younger and more draft picks in return without getting worse as a whole.
Watching Rasmus Sadin and TVR together seems like a great fit right now they look like they gel together and when Carlson returns we could have a much needed improved defensive end who I think will be paired up with Irwin when he comes back.
Can’t finish without mentioning Anthony “traffic cone” Mantha how does a guy with this type of talent be this much of a non factor on the ice! He has going 19 games now and 12 without even a point. I’m not sure if there is the “yips” in hockey but Mantha has to have something going on with how poor he has been performing.
Also, it would be nice to see guys like Kuzy show an some more effort he always seems to go through the motions, now yes he still is effective, but if he skated like Sheary or Milano maybe I don’t know 5 times a night he would be more productive. I could be wrong here but that is what I see from his game effort wise.
The Capitals are back in action tomorrow against the Islanders and it is getting more and more likely that our playoff chances are done but not out yet I am keeping that hope alive till that fat lady sings!
Also, D.C. sports fans some positives to think of, it looks like the Commanders (Redskins) might have a good chance at getting Lamar Jackson!
The Morning Skate 