The Washington Capitals made the trip north to frigid Manitoba, where the Winnipeg Jets awaited them on Saturday night. The two teams faced off in DC at the end of last month, with the Caps emerging 4-3 victors on home ice.
Logan Stanley chipped a carom off the boards past Logan Thompson to open the scoring. Morgan Barron made it two for the Jets, finishing a feed from Adam Lowry. Alex Iafallo and Gabe Vilardi added two more for Winnipeg in the second period to double their lead. Vilardi put away another in the third. Jakob Chychrun got a garbage-time power-play goal.
Jets beat Capitals 5-1.
Get RMNB ad-free
Support us on Patreon for $5 to hide all ads and get other perks
An absurdly dominant first period for the Jets against the Capitals. The road team was not even at the races. I haven’t loved how the Caps have been playing five-on-five recently, despite all the wins. They did not have a single even-strength shot in the first frame tonight, and were also horrible against the Carolina Hurricanes back home.
Ryan Leonard should apparently win the Hart Trophy as league MVP for making the Capitals’ power play look viable for about a week before he got injured. After failing on two early opportunities, the man-advantage unit has not scored a goal on its last 10 tries. I’d love not to have to talk about the power play every game again.
Big shoutout to Bogdan Trineyev for making his NHL debut. The 2020 fourth-round pick has worked his tail off down in the AHL with the Hershey Bears and got his deserved spotlight against the Jets. I liked his speed early on, and he certainly didn’t look out of place.
Yeah, I’m writing this bullet after the second period, and I can already tell you this is the Capitals’ worst game of the season. They recorded a single high-danger chance through 40 minutes of play and gave up 12 to the Jets. I don’t imagine Spencer Carbery is going to be pleased postgame.
If you’re a Team USA fan, you’ll be hoping this was a preview of what could potentially be a Logan Thompson vs. Connor Hellebuyck matchup during the Olympics. Thompson was completely left out to dry by his teammates in this game, though, which isn’t ever going to happen with Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Sidney Crosby leading the charge in front of him.
I really didn’t want to harp on the power play again, but that chance late in the second period, where the Capitals could have pulled some momentum back with a goal, might be a contender for their worst power play of the season. It wasn’t just the lack of execution, but also the lackadaisical backchecking and decision-making. The Jets should have two shorthanded goals on two straight shifts. Horrible.
Looks like it’s going to snow in the Beltway area tonight, so I guess that’s a positive we can take away from the evening, since the Capitals sure didn’t deliver one. However, if you hate the cold and also hate driving in this area, you’re probably doubly annoyed.
Yeah, not any better in the third period. Easily their worst game of the season and maybe even last season, too. Logan Thompson would be justified in never speaking to his teammates again (this is a joke).
John Carlson took a delay of game penalty after launching the puck all the way across the ice from his own zone. That penalty summed up a lot about this one.
The Jets had lost five of their last six games coming into tonight. Yeesh.
The Capitals are off on Sunday, practice in Minnesota on Monday, and then play Quinn Hughes and the Wild on Tuesday night. They need a response game after this mess.