Washington Capitals- 5, Ottawa Senators- 2

Well, last night’s game was quite the stinker, wasn’t it? It was one of those games that you knew how it was going to end within minutes of the opening puck drop. For most of this game, it was 2-0 and 2-1 for the Washington Capitals when it felt like it should have been 5-1 or 5-0. In the end, the score worked itself out to be a little more telling as to how much better the Capitals were last night.

Pascal Leclaire had a night to forget. It would be too easy for me to give Leclaire last night’s Non-Classy. So instead, I’ll address it and get it out of the way prior to getting into other aspects of last night’s game.

Of Washington’s five goals, two of them were complete Leclaire errors. Actually, they were both Nicklas Backstrom goals. Leclaire had no chance on the first two goals thanks to poor defensive coverage and bad decisions. And of course, Alex Ovechkin’s goal was a goal the second he got the puck. Here’s what I don’t get about Leclaire. He’s not a bad goalie, yet it’s very regular for him to let in a weak goal (usually early in games) in most games. And then he’ll come back and make a few highlight reel saves. The best way I can sum up Leclaire so far this season for the Ottawa Senators is consistently inconsistent.

Although both his goals were weak, I absolutely love Nick Backstrom and what he brings to the Capitals. I think he’s one of the top five playmakers in the NHL. I predict he’ll turn a lot of heads at the Vancouver Olympics for Team Sweden.

Without further delay, here are the Classy, Non-Classy, and Could-Have-Been-Classier moments from the Senators-Capitals game.

The Classy

I thought TSN’s Ray Ferraro hit the nail on the head during last night’s telecast when talking about Erik Karlsson’s play. Erik Karlsson was excellent for the Ottawa Senators. Actually, he was the only Senator who played hard all game and who’s name I can use in the same sentence as the word excellent. Karlsson’s positioning was bang on and he used his speed and intelligence to win man-on-man battles. He moved pucks very well and helped create some (albeit small) offensive pressure. This was by far the best game Karlsson has played in the NHL. I believe this is Karlsson’s first Classy performance too.

Non-Classy

I really didn’t like the way the Senators were completely outworked all game. Whether it was 5-on-5 or on powerplays, Washington worked harder, won puck battles, and clearly wanted to win more than the Senators did. A great example of this came from a first period Senators powerplay that saw Mike Green dive to clear the zone while the Senators sat back and watched. I don’t want to put words in the mouths of the Senators players, but their play last night looked like them shrugging their shoulders saying “we can’t match the firepower the Caps have”. That’s true, but you don’t need star players to work hard. Washington’s star players and role players all worked far harder than the majority of the Sens. That’s the bottom line.

An honourable mention for the Non-Classy goes to the powerplay, again. It’s not working and I think I know why. The Senators are not moving around enough. The more every player moves around and cycles, the more it pulls the defending team’s players out of position. The Senators need to employ multiple powerplay set ups in the same shift in order to do this. Right now, the Senators players are standing around and it’s easy for the opposition to set up a box and aggressively attack the Senators standstill set up. They should listen to me for no other reason than because what they are doing right now isn’t working and hasn’t for the last few weeks dating back to 2009.

Could-Have-Been-Classier

Ottawa had limited scoring chances against the Capitals last night. Partly because the Capitals did a great job shutting them down and partly because Ottawa didn’t play well enough. The chances Ottawa did get were blown by bad shots on goal. How many quality scoring chances did the Senators get where the shot hit Caps goalie Jose Theodore right in the chest? I think to Nick Foligno’s nice deke/walk out or the Jonathan Cheechoo shot on the 3 on 1, plus many other point shots from Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips. It’s not like the Senators had any kind of net presence either. A shot at the chest of an NHL goalie with no net presence or screens has a likeliness of 0.000121 per cent chance of going in. Maybe less. Theodore didn’t have to be spectacular last night, but Ottawa didn’t really test him.

Honourable Mention for Could-Have-Been-Classier goes to the Senators dump-ins. There were way too many dump ins that weren’t well placed or followed by aggressive forechecking. Even when changing lines on the fly, there should be one player going in to push the other team. That either didn’t happen or the player couldn’t do anything effective because the dump ins weren’t shot into strategic areas. Rarely did any dump in last night give Ottawa a chance to win an offensive battle and stood as a big reason why Ottawa didn’t have much going in the way of puck possession time in Washington’s zone.

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Up next for the Senators is a Saturday night home game against the struggling Florida Panthers. The Panthers have lost five of their last six games, despite finally having Nathan Horton and Steven Weiss (finally) play well. Following Saturday’s game, the Senators start a five game road trip that will see them play the Hurricanes, Thrashers, Rangers, Canadiens, and Bruins within eight days. Five road games in eight nights might prove ugly with the Senators injury woes and poor play.

Lastly, Milan Michalek left last night’s game in the first period with what’s believed to be an upper body injury. Michalek didn’t return to the ice following a collision with Mike Green. For those keeping track, that’s the Senators entire first line injured. At the moment, Michalek is expected to miss at least the next two Senators games starting Saturday against the Panthers.

Stay classy, Ottawa Senators.

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