Whelp folks not the way we wanted to start the road trip getting smoked by McDavid and Co. with the final of 7-2.
With the high powered offense that is McDavid and Draisaitl any game against Edmonton will be a test and push any defense to the limit.
The Oilers got on the board first on a masterful display of powerplay puck movement that made our defense look like a peewee team, Kuemper had zero chance lets be honest. Draisaitl had two great chances and he made sure not to miss on the second try.
If you haven’t realized Edmonton is a team that you cannot let them get the man advantage because they are lethal with it. It reminds me of the prime Ovi power-play days almost unstoppable. Oilers make it 2-0 early in the 1st.
It wasn’t all bleak last night Ivan Miroshnichenko continues to show promise, last night he scored an unorthodox goal off the boards fadeaway one timer to make it 2-1 in favor of Edmonton. This was his 2nd goal of the season and his career.
Then on the power-play the boys were able to Capitalize of the Ovi shot rebound to McMichael in the slot who sniped it home to tie the game at 2 a piece.
Also, Ovi was robbed of two goals tonight, Skinner was lights out tonight against his attempts.
In what was an eventful 1st period and a happy one for those who bet the over in the game Zach Hyman on the doorstep of Kuemper smacked it home to notch the last goal of the 1st with the score 3-2 Oilers.
After a lot of back and forth throughout the 2nd the Oilers were able to add to their lead and Zach Hyman said “Utah, get me two” and now has 45 goals on the year. 4-2 Oilers
Also, I had to include this clip my jaw continues to drop to see a player at the pro level skate this fast through multiple other professional players.
Overall, if you just looked at the score 7-2 loss you think wow the boys got smoked and must have played bad, but this was not the case to be honest they skated well with a far superior offensive team for most of the game during 5v5 play.
Our penalty kill was borderline pathetic tonight, it looked like if my beer league team was trying to stop a D1 hockey team on the power-play.
Jensen, Carlson, and Fehervary were less than stellar tonight. As I mentioned in my Mantha trade blog the Capitals have tons of picks in the upcoming drafts, defense needs to be a priority.
Darcy Kuemper didn’t play all that bad, but he isn’t playing to the caliber that we are paying him for. I hate to say I told you so, but when we signed him I said that exact thing that he was extremely overpaid for a above average goaltender. This is not be blaming him for the loss just stating facts that he has never lived up to his contract in Washington. To put it in baseball terms its like when the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury.
With the Flyers beating the Sharks on Tuesday they have extended their lead over Washington for 3rd in the Metro to 7 points. Within the Wild Card race the Islanders and Red Wings are both 3 points ahead of the Caps for the last spot with Washington having one game in hand on Detroit.
The Capitals leave Canada and head to Seattle for a clash with the Kraken which the boys have not had much success in the Emerald City.
The Morning Skate 