Washington Capitals: Match ratings from Week Three

An inconsistent start to the season for the Washington Capitals continued in Week 3. What can be learned from another short week for the champs?

It was another light week for the Washington Capitals, as they had just two home games to worry about. They made the most of it, however, with both games going beyond regulation and one of them requiring the shootout.

Even though it is still early in the season, some issues and patterns have already become evident in Washington’s game, including the team’s lack of depth scoring and poor defense in front of their own net.

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These patterns already being apparent is one of the purposes of this article, part of a weekly series examining the week that was for the Capitals. When the season is over in June, a problem from one of these games may be relevant then as well.

The other goal of this article is to examine these games in the context of the entertainment product it is. The hope is that at the end of the season, a fan interested in coming back to specific games, even if just for entertainment purposes, will be able to.

While I would like to branch out the scope to more teams, I am unfortunately only able to watch Washington Capitals games with any consistency, so these articles will only look at those games. Without further ado, let us look back at Week Three for Washington!

Game 6: 10/17/18 vs. New York Rangers

Despite being on the back end of a back-to-back, the New York Rangers came into DC and took the Washington Capitals to the limit before succumbing 4-3 in overtime.

This was a pretty average game other than a few outbursts from both sides. Most of the game was pretty sleepy, without a whole lot of excitement from either team. However, both Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist were kept busy throughout the night and made some key stops.

The Capitals did not play badly, obviously, considering that they won the game. But the Rangers are not a good team, and they were tired after going to the shootout the night before. Washington should have been way more dominant than they were.

From an entertainment standpoint, like I said, the game was pretty average for the most part, although with some good chances each way. Christian Djoos saving the puck on the goal line was probably the most heart-pounding moment of the night.

Overall, the Capitals played just well enough to beat a tired team that will not make the playoffs this year. It should not be any surprise, then, that this game was not a particularly exciting one.

Performance: 6/10

Entertainment: 6/10

Game 7: 10/19/18 vs. Florida

Games between the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers in recent years have tended to be boring, defense-first games that nobody will remember at the end of the season. Through 20 minutes, it appeared as if this would be another one of those.

However, the sleepy first period which saw Florida take a 4-1 lead helped create the story of the match, which saw the Capitals fight back from the deficit and steal a point from a shootout loss, after tying the game with the goalie pulled late in the third.

Washington’s defense continued to be horrendous, as they have now given up 3 or more goals in all but two games this season. But they showed a lot of heart and offensive creativity to climb out of the hole and send the game past regulation.

Entertainment-wise, this was an example of a slow-build match. The first period sucked to watch and was completely boring, but that helped to force Washington’s stagnant offense out of their shell. That led to the game opening up, and good chances coming for both teams.

This is a sleeper match that should not be overlooked at the end of the season, both for performance and entertainment reasons. The issues that have plagued the Capitals so far were evident, and this was a really fun game. A true win-win proposition.

Performance: 4.5/10

Entertainment: 8/10

Overall, the Washington Capitals failed to show any significant improvement this week. While this should not necessarily be a cause for alarm, the grace period the team can be afforded is quickly coming to an end.

From an entertainment standpoint, this was a pretty good week. The first game was pretty average, but the second one was one of the best of the season. That Florida game may be quite important by the time the end of the season rolls around.

This column will be back next week, with more games to look back on. Until then, as they say in hockey, let’s do that hockey!