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Takeaways: Lindgren Shines, But Lifeless Power Play Sinks Capitals vs. Leafs

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2 years ago

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Washington Capitals Charlie Lindgren

Same struggles, same story for the Washington Capitals on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Just 24 hours after an opening-night loss to the Boston Bruins, Washington saw another loss to open the season 0-2-0. Charlie Lindgren put on a show and the Capitals got a couple of goals, but an unfortunate bounce and no success on the man advantage led to a 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Ilya Samsonov got the win over his former teammates, stopping 24 of 26 shots (.923 save percentage).

Here are all the takeaways from the defeat:

Washington Capitals Special Teams Woes Still Prominent

It was a rough night on the man advantage on Wednesday, and that didn’t change in the span of 24 hours. Washington saw more opportunities on the man advantage in the Six, but the Capitals just couldn’t convert. Alex Ovechkin had Samsonov cleanly beat on the opening PP of the night, but the shot rang off the crossbar. His first official shot on goal came much later in the game on another power-play chance, and he had three on that opportunity alone. Still, the team went 0-for-5 and are now 0-for-9 on the power play to open the 2022-23 campaign.

There are no excuses at this point. Though Nicklas Backstrom is injured, Ovechkin, Carlson and the team kept repeating the same game plan and didn’t change things up. That led to the unsurprising same results.

Then on the flip side, they took one too many penalties. The penalty kill got better as the game went on, but early, the PK couldn’t get the puck out of the zone and appeared disjointed and tired. Lindgren was by far the best penalty killer, but Tavares’ goal marked the second PPG the team allowed in as many games to open the year. The PK is now 4-for-6 (66 percent success) to start.

Disjointed Defense Struggles Again, But Lindgren Bails Washington Capitals Out

To open this season, the Capitals blue line has not been efficient. The only change was to the third pairing, as Erik Gustafsson subbed in for Justin Schultz, but it appears that the chemistry from last season has dwindled. And, if not for Lindgren, Washington would have found itself in the same position as its season opener.

Lindgren had his work cut out for him in his Capitals debut, as the Maple Leafs piled on 22 shots in the opening frame. With the exception of a John Tavares tap-in on the power play that was out of his control, the 28-year-old appeared to have an answer for everything through the first 20 minutes. He shut down Auston Matthews and stopped four odd-man rushes against, and also stoned Toronto on a clean breakaway chance. He stopped 21 of 22 shots in the opening frame and had quite a few 10-bell stops to add to his resume.

In the second, he was left out to dry again when Calle Jarnkrok easily got around Dmitry Orlov and tipped in a picture-perfect pass to make it 2-1, but Lindgren didn’t stop bailing out the Capitals. After that, the defense appeared to start cleaning up, but Lindgren was still busy, and the high-powered Leafs offense kept breaking through.

Ultimately, one unlucky bounce off his back on a Matthews deflection led to the game-winning goal for Toronto, but nothing should be on the new No. 2. He put on a clinic,

Ultimately, the new No. 2 stopped 36 of 39 shots for a .923 save percentage in his first game for The District.

Washington Capitals Get More Offense, Lines Change

After failing to find twine until the second period of the season opener, Washington got off to a much faster start against former teammate Ilya Samsonov. Nic Dowd was the first to get on the scoresheet, one-timing a nice pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk past Samsonov to even the score in the first. The tally marked the second assist in as many games for Dowd and Erik Gustafsson.

Then, minutes later and with Lindgren coming up big on quite a few grade-A chances for Toronto, Lars Eller and T.J. Oshie won a puck battle along the boards and got the puck up to Marcus Johansson, who snapped a quick shot past Samsonov to make it 2-1. It marked Johansson’s first of the season, and he is the team’s fourth different goal scorer to open 2022-23. The third line looked solid, as they won battles and helped generate some pressure in the offensive zone.

After that, the offense couldn’t get momentum. The Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Connor Brown combination didn’t have a lot of chemistry, and ultimately, Ovechkin switched lines, moving to play with Lars Eller and T.J. Oshie and then Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas for a bit. Anthony Mantha took his place on that Kuznetsov-Brown trio later on.

Washington Capitals Special Teams Woes Still Prominent

It was a rough night on the man advantage on Wednesday, and that didn’t change in the span of 24 hours. Washington saw more opportunities on the man advantage in the Six, but the Capitals just couldn’t convert. Alex Ovechkin had Samsonov cleanly beat on the opening PP of the night, but the shot rang off the crossbar. His first official shot on goal came much later in the game on another power-play chance, and he had three on that opportunity alone. Still, the team went 0-for-2 and are now 0-for-6 on the power play to open the 2022-23 campaign.

Then on the flip side, they took one too many penalties. The penalty kill got better as the game went on, but early, the PK couldn’t get the puck out of the zone and appeared disjointed and tired. Lindgren was by far the best penalty killer, but Tavares’ goal marked the second PPG the team allowed in as many games to open the year. The PK is now 4-for-6 (66 percent success) to start.

More Washington Capitals Ice Chips

  • Protas looked great in his second game of the season. He used his size and long reach to his advantage and created quite a few chances in the offensive zone. He also showed off his improved speed, even hitting 21 miles per hour on one shift.
  • Strome led all centers in face-off wins with seven wins on 13 draws (54 percent).
  • There was one funny moment, as Samsonov seemed to forget he switched teams in the offseason.

GOTTA SEE IT: Samsonov Forgets He’s Not On Capitals, Plays Puck To Them

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