Recap: Kings 4, Capitals 1

Believe it or not, playing a conservative style does not prevent you from attacking. Unfortunately, that is what, it appears, Bruce Boudreau has his team believing. For a team that isn't great at forechecking, the transition game can be life or death. When you're not attacking in transition, it'll always be death.

Here's another thought: put Ovechkin on the RW on the PP. Make sure he and Backstrom are never on the same side. Teams can cheat to that side because no one backdoor is going to burn them--Green has to stay high in case Ovechkin loses the puck, Backstrom has to stay along the boards as a potential pass recipient. Semin below the goal line is not a realistic option to get a pass, and neither is Knuble in front. Hence, it's easy enough to get three guys aggressively on Backstrom-Ovechkin-Green, with relatively low risk.

I don't care if the game is boring or not. I care if the Capitals are trying to play a defensive style and failing at it. They gave up a ton of chances in transition in the third--perhaps the Kings' good forecheck and cycling in the first two periods contributed to that. One of those third period LA goals stands out to me. Semin goes on 1-on-3, 3 Caps are in the neutral zone, but they all get beaten. There's no excuse to give up a 2-on-1 when you only get as far as the attacking blueline, and with only one player at that, but that is exactly what happened (and I believe it was Handzus passing for the goal to Jarret Stoll).

Scoring chance tally after the jump.

Stick tap to Vic Ferrari and his awesome script. Unfortunately, it spit out something that reminds me of Hephaestus. I was actually surprised it was so close. The Kings had plenty of sustained offense, and like Alan May was saying early in the first, they were having trouble breaking off the cycle and then generating chances. The Caps were one-and-done all night.

At least the PK was awesome again today.

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20829

Team	Period	Time	Note	WSH						Opponent
WSH	1	18:55	T GOAL Ovechkin	1	4	8	19	28	74	8	14	28	33	45	94	5v5
LAK	1	13:43	ZP deflection	1	4	8	19	23	28	8	11	17	26	33	45	5v5
WSH	1	10:03	ZP Laich backhand	1	21	25	27	74	85	2	12	13	23	45	53	5v5
WSH	1	9:01	T Hendricks wrister	1	22	26	27	74	90	3	7	14	28	45	94	5v5
WSH	1	6:15	T Laich	1	21	25	27	74	85	3	7	19	22	27	45	5v5
LAK	1	5:31	T Clifford wrister, juicy rebound	1	22	26	27	74	90	2	12	13	23	45	53	5v5
LAK	1	2:18	T Loktionov after Smyth interception	1	21	25	27	74	85	8	12	14	33	45	94	5v5
WSH	1	0:01	ZP Hendricks deflection	1	4	22	23	26	39	2	3	23	27	28	45	5v5
WSH	2	19:00	T Semin slapshot	1	4	8	19	23	28	8	11	14	26	33	45	5v5
WSH	2	18:40	T Ovechkin centers to Backstrom	1	8	19	28	52	55	8	14	28	33	45	94	5v5
LAK	2	17:16	FO Lewis snapshot	1	10	17	27	39	74	2	22	23	27	45	53	5v5
LAK	2	16:16	ZP Williams wrister	1	4	22	23	26	90	3	7	14	28	45	94	5v5
LAK	2	15:51	ZP point shot bounces to front	1	4	22	23	26	90	3	7	14	28	45	94	5v5
LAK	2	9:09	ZP GOAL Kopitar	1	21	25	27	74	85	2	14	28	45	53	94	5v5
LAK	2	6:40	T Clifford slapshot	1	26	28	52	55	90	8	12	13	23	33	45	5v5
WSH	2	5:41	T Semin slapshot	1	4	8	19	23	28	8	14	28	33	45	94	5v5
WSH	2	3:33	ZP rebound in front	1	10	17	27	39	74	8	23	28	33	45		5v4
LAK	2	0:03	ZP Handzus on rebound, great save	1	21	23	39	55		3	8	11	26	45	94	4v5
LAK	3	16:26	T Clifford semi-breakaway	1	21	25	52	55	85	2	12	13	23	45	53	5v5
LAK	3	16:25	T GOAL Loktionov	1	21	25	52	55	85	2	12	13	23	45	53	5v5
LAK	3	7:33	T GOAL Handzus	1	25	26	52	55	90	2	11	17	26	45	53	5v5
LAK	3	6:05	T GOAL Stoll	1	21	27	28	74	85	3	7	14	28	45	94	5v5
WSH	3	3:31	ZP Knuble on loose puck in slot	1	8	19	22	52	74	8	23	26	33	45		5v4
WSH	3	2:53	ZP Backstrom on loose puck in slot	1	8	19	22	52	74	2	7	11	27	45		5v4
WSH	3	0:30	T Carlson wrister	1	25	26	27	74	85	3	7	12	13	23	45	5v5

#	Player	EV			PP			SH
1	S. VARLAMOV	50:00	9	12	8:00	3	0	2:00	0	1
4	J. ERSKINE	15:47	4	3	0:00	0	0	0:00	0	0
8	A. OVECHKIN	17:55	4	1	6:40	2	0	0:00	0	0
10	M. BRADLEY	8:41	0	1	0:22	1	0	0:00	0	0
17	D. KING	7:00	0	1	0:22	1	0	0:00	0	0
19	N. BACKSTROM	15:51	4	1	5:00	2	0	0:23	0	0
21	B. LAICH	11:04	2	5	3:28	0	0	1:03	0	1
22	M. KNUBLE	12:53	2	3	3:16	2	0	0:45	0	0
23	S. HANNAN	18:44	3	3	0:00	0	0	1:26	0	1
25	J. CHIMERA	11:24	3	5	2:38	0	0	0:00	0	0
26	M. HENDRICKS	13:52	3	5	0:28	0	0	0:34	0	0
27	K. ALZNER	17:27	4	5	1:07	1	0	0:34	0	0
28	A. SEMIN	16:55	4	3	3:54	0	0	0:00	0	0
39	D. STECKEL	8:25	1	1	0:22	1	0	0:41	0	1
52	M. GREEN	16:56	1	4	5:07	2	0	0:00	0	0
55	J. SCHULTZ	13:09	1	4	0:00	0	0	1:26	0	1
74	J. CARLSON	18:13	5	5	4:38	3	0	0:34	0	0
85	M. PERREAULT	12:46	3	5	1:46	0	0	0:00	0	0
90	M. JOHANSSON	12:58	1	5	0:52	0	0	0:34	0	0

Period	Totals		EV		PP		5v3 PP		SH		5v3 SH
1	5	3	5	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	4	6	3	5	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
3	3	4	1	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	12	13	9	12	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0

Closing notes:

Not a single Capital was in positive Fenwick territory. Only Mathieu Perreault, Jason Chimera, and Brooks Laich broke positive in Corsi. All this against a Los Angeles team that is pretty much just as good as Washington.

Anze Kopitar, Wayne Simmonds, Michal Handzus, Willie Mitchell, and Drew Doughty owned Alex Ovechkin head to head. Well, they beat him, at least. That +4 zonestart didn't help much, and AO nearly broke even in Fenwick. Looking at the Kings' numbers, though, I'd guess AO did that in the few minutes he wasn't playing against the aforementioned Kings.

John Carlson got more ESTOI than Mike Green. I'm sorry, that's not how things are supposed to be. I'm not sure how bad of a game Green actually had, but I can tell you Schultz seemed off, and got walked a couple of times (notably resulting in Simmonds' goal) and lost coverage too (notably on Kopitar's goal). Regardless, down a goal, Green should be getting plenty of ice.

Alex Ovechkin led all skaters in TOI. Only Drew Doughty came close to AO's 24:35. Carlson was a minute behind, Green two, Backstrom three.

Bruce Boudreau, I know you can do a better job.