It was an ugly night in Arizona for the Capitals.
After being pulled in the first period, Darcy Kuemper made his way to the tunnel and slammed his stick against the boards, breaking it in half as he left the ice in frustration. It spoke volumes of the Washington Capitals' start against the Arizona Coyotes, but it was only the start of more chaos to come in what turned out to be a disastrous loss defined by a disappointing first period.
Washington surrendered five goals in the first period, and then had nothing to show for the rest of the night and underwhelmed at both ends as they were steamrolled by the Coyotes, 6-0.
Here are the takeaways and what went wrong.
Wheels Fall Off Early For Capitals, PK Suffers Setback As Kuemper & Lindgren Lit Up Early
Things didn't start off terribly for Washington, who was getting its looks and making the most of its opportunities in the first few minutes. Then, a Coyotes power play opened the flood gates.
Logan Cooley struck first for the Coyotes on the power play, making no mistake on a picture-perfect pass from Clayton Keller to make it 1-0. Minutes later, a red-hot Michael Carcone would come flying through the neutral zone and bury his 12th of the season, firing a quick shot past Kuemper to put Arizona up 2-0 as the team scored on each of its first two shots.
After that, the Coyotes went to another power play, and again made the most of it as Nick Schmaltz was left uncovered in the slot and rifled a one-timer top shelf over Kuemper to make it 3-0. It was a nice revenge moment for former Capitals assistant Blaine Forsythe, who is now Arizona's PP coach and knows his old team's systems inside and out.
That ended Kuemper's night, as Charlie Lindgren relieved the 33-year-old after he surrendered three goals on five shots. Lindgren fared no better though. Schmaltz able to add his second of the game on a one-timer shortly after Lindgren came into the game, and late in the frame, Jason Zucker was left all alone and given all the time in the world to walk in and deke out Lindgren for a 5-0 lead.
After 20 minutes, Washington was in a hole it couldn't come back from — and there wasn't much of a fight to get back in it. The Capitals failed to generate high-danger chances, and the play up front appeared tired. Washington also fell back into bad habits, was too loose on defense and not aggressive enough at both ends, while also falling prey to lapses in coverage and judgment.
Capitals Power Play Struggles Again, Shorthanded Goal The Last Straw
Just a few nights back, it seemed that the power-play woes may have finally come to an end, thanks to Tom Wilson. However, the same issues were back and on display as the Capitals went 0-for-4 against the Coyotes, whose PK ranks in the middle of the pack.
Alex Ovechkin got a couple of looks and there were some strong passes made, but there wasn't enough push and desperation on the man advantage. Washington also ran into a red-hot Connor Ingram, who made 26 stops en route to the shutout.
To make matters worse, on the team's fourth power play where a goal could have had a chance to spark some kind of life, a turnover led to a 2-on-0 break for Nick Bjugstad and Alex Kerfoot. Despite Ovechkin's backcheck, it was too late to catch up to either of them, and the two passed back and forth and easily scored on Lindgren, who was again left to dry, to put Arizona up 6-0.
It was an embarrassing and tough moment for D.C, who is now 5-for-65 (7.7 percent) on the man advantage this season.
Kuznetsov Scratched for Capitals
Evgeny Kuznetsov watched all fo the action unfold from the bowels of Mullett Arena, as he was a healthy scratch for what would have been his 700th career NHL game.
Head coach Spencer Carbery had said that he hoped the scratch would serve as a "mental reset" for the 31-year-old, who has struggled to find consistency and offense this season.
While it was the right call to make to get Kuznetsov to get back to playing at his highest level, it took away a top asset, and not having him left a noticeable void as the Capitals failed to find twine.
Top Shelf Takes
- Lindgren, despite surrendering three goals, stopped 19 of 22 shots (.864) and made a couple of big stops in relief as he returned from illness.
- Aliaksei Protas was hurting after blocking a shot with his knee early in the second period but made a return to play.
- Wilson had a target on his back after making a big hit on Sean Durzi that sent the Coyotes defender ot the room for some time. Former teammate Liam O'Brien had some words for No. 43, who responded, "You wish you could hit like that. You'd get a lot more ice. F***ing take a listen."