1/25/2024 0 Comments Capitals vs penguins score![]() With Darcy Kuemper out celebrating his baby, Charlie Lindgren got the unexpected start in net.Maybe it’s just that he’s a model of how I want the team to play – quicker and with a bit more finesse. I want more time before I have to talk about how the Capitals are playing through neutral, but I think Sonny Milano is well suited to it – whatever it is.Those re two unfortunate plays that I don’t think reflect his otherwise solid play on the night. He had a funky turnover to give Malkin a scoring chance in the first, then he slashed Eller to give the Penguins their second power play (and second power-play goal) of the night. Rasmus Sandin didn’t relieve those doubts. The big doubt in some heads is about Washington’s defensive roster.In any case, his line had a tremendous, heavy shift early in the game but mostly sputtered without the puck otherwise. Is he going to be a setup guy on the wing for someone else (Wilson?), or will he be the individual volume shooter like he was way back when? He had five attempts through two periods in this one, so I suspect it’s still the latter, but this is something I’ll be following. I wonder how much the player has evolved since I last got a real good look at him, which, jesus, was like March-April of 2022. Connor McMichael didn’t have the puck a ton, but he created plays when he did. ![]() Ovechkin lowers the boom on Erik Karlsson. Alex Ovechkin did an Eldritch Blast into Erik Karlsson.Backstrom’s line (with Ovechkin and Oshie) was Washington’s best, which is wild to say in October of 2023. I can’t say he is back to where he was in 2020 or 2017 or anything like that, but I think it’s safe to say he looks better. Back in the spring he always looked to me like he couldn’t accelerate. I know we’ve been talking about it all preseason, but I want to do it again: Nicklas Backstrom looks much better than he did last season.The scoreboard stings, sure, but I think I saw some good stuff out there and I want to talk about it with you. I feel like it let me think less about how the game was getting decided and more about how this new version of the team looks. In a perverse way that I would never admit in public but I’m fine sharing it with you here, secretly: I’m kind of relieved the Caps got smoked tonight.If you’re still gearing up for the season, Chris prepared a really helpful primer on all the changes and important updates leading up to today.Come the third period, the Caps didn’t have much fight in them Reilly Smith had an open lane to make it 4-0 The Pens got two power plays in the second period, both resulting in goals by Sidney Crosby. It was Evgeni Malkin who scored first, taking advantage of a tasty turnover from Ovechkin. The Washington Capitals carefully descended into the brackish, murky waters of the 2023-24 season with a definitive, home-ice loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
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