WINGS POSTGAME: Washington Capitalizes Against the Wings
5 years ago
One of the rare games that the Wings led the shot battle but still lost the game, they suffered a 3-1 defeat to the Capitals in Washington.
After the first period, the Wings looked dominant and confident in winning this game. At one point they were leading the shot battle 14-3, but that was only enough to get one goal for. That goal ended up being the only Wings were able to score this afternoon.
The Wings was still able to end the game with 30 shots, compared to 20 from the Capitals. They also were able to win the Corsi and scoring chance battles – a solid 57.3 CF% at 5v5 and 52.17% of the scoring chances at even-strength.
It takes some shooting luck to win games and therefore championships – the Capitals proved that once again.
Worth Mentioning
- The Red Wings kept the Capitals to just five shots in the first period, while they were able to get fourteen shots on net. Completely suffocating them and demonstrating a solid transition game.
- The opening goal was from Athanasiou and he was by far the most dangerous player in this game.
- Not sure if this is a permanent strategy on the man advantage now, but Vanek was able to make a beautiful pass from behind the net directly to Athanasiou for the goal. Our Tom Mistos wrote something on this strategy earlier this year.
- In the second period, Tom Wilson got the tying goal that was a truly unexpected snipe from him.
- This was after the Capitals really came on in the second period and fixed their offense mid-game. At the end of the period, the shots were 18-13 Wings – a big improvement from the home team.
- That push continued and the Capitals scored two quick goals in the third period to put them up 3-1.
- First one was from Kempny – an absolute laser that ripped past Bernier. The second was yet another shot from distance that beat the Wings netminder, this time from Ovechkin.
- Bertuzzi led the Wings in 5v5 CF% with 71.43% and was able to get 3 SOG with only 13:40 TOI.
- The rookies – Rasmussen, Cholowski, and Ehn – had mediocre games, but that is expected against the defending Cup champions. Rasmussen led the Wings in expected Goals For while he was on the ice, so he certainly influenced the game beyond the boxscore. (via evolving-hockey.com)
Final Thoughts
Of course, it’s unfortunate to see the team lose, but if they have to lose against the Caps, they lost with some dignity. The young players played well and the Caps simply scored on some lucky breaks. Low-danger scoring chances that were able to just squeak past Bernier and therefore, the won the game.
The Wings heavily influenced this game and were just not able to capitalize on their early game success – completely turtling after the first intermission. They still got more shot attempts than the Caps in each individual period, but the Caps were just able to get more shots on net.
Detroit is back in action against the surging and red-hot Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night. We will have all the information you need here, in our Wings Gameday Pre-Game.
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