The Capitals had just 19 shots on goal as they were shut out in their season opener for the first time in franchise history.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals heard the rallying cries from fans, as demands to "SHOOT!" rained down on Capital One Arena on Friday. It's easier said than done, though the team admits that a total of 19 shots on goal was far from acceptable as it got blanked and fell 4-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins in their season opener.
Washington started the game the right way, generating pressure, making plays and sustaining pressure in the offensive zone. There were flashes of that in the second period, too, even when the Penguins went up 3-0 and quieted Capital One Arena. There were passes, cycles of play and possession in the offensive zone. The only issue: there were no shots.
"Yeah, I think there was definitely some of those times where, when you have teams on the ropes, it's easy to kind of just want to play possession and find something and keep wearing them down," John Carlson pointed out. "But I think it comes to an end because there's no perfect changes. I think you're also skating around the zone pretty fast, and if you don't strike and really put them on their heels, then one little bounce of the puck, one little play by them, and then you wasted a perfect opportunity to get into attack mode."
While the solution seems simple — the cliché of "throw pucks at the net and good things happen" has been a mantra in the game for years — it wasn't easy for the Capitals. Passes didn't connect, the puck was bouncing at times, shots rang wide or there were bodies in the way.
It also comes down to the way Washington was approaching the attack. The team wasn't getting to the crease or doing much to get to the inside, and, instead, stayed on the outside. When the Capitals did get to the inside, there were chances, but the puck didn't bounce their way and Tristan Jarry was able to stand tall.
Ultimately, Washington trended toward the former for the majority of the time. That, in turn, took a lot away from the forecheck, as the Penguins didn't have a difficult time shutting it down.
"Not enough inside. Too perimeter at times for sure without question, and that's easy to defend, right?" Spencer Carbery pointed out, adding, "You're not going to come into the scoring area... you got to get people and bodies inside there, and then the second part of that is you got to deliver."
At the other end, Pittsburgh was able to easily get to the crease and sneak in tight, leading to four goals despite Charlie Lindgren's impressive performance. The Penguins ended up with 35 shots on goal.
"That's an area where we got to get better if we want to score goals," Nicklas Backstrom said. "Usually, goals are scored right in front there. So more shots, more traffic... just clean that up and move forward."
Washington has the day off on Saturday before taking the ice on Sunday for another practice. The team will then return to game action on Monday against the Calgary Flames, and Alex Ovechkin promised that his team will be ready and will have shaken that first game off.
"Just move on. How I said we didn't get the results, you know... we gonna watch the video and gonna play better the next game," Ovechkin said.