The Capitals lost Game 4 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series in Pittsburgh on Thursday night to the Penguins, 3-1. The series is now tied 2-2 with Game 5 set for Saturday night at Capital One Arena.
The Capitals played a very good defensive game, yielding a disputed goal that was both reviewed and challenged for goaltender interference and an empty-netter, along with only allowing 24 shots-on-goal.
The main problem? Besides the scoreboard – was the lack of opportunities and shots on net at Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray, who has been more than human in this series.
Washington only had 21 shots on goal and most importantly, Alex Ovechkin had NONE. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA. NOTHING. NYET.
Thanks for coming.
The “Great 8” clearly needs to be better. He’s been great for the most part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a couple of notable duds (Game 1 -Columbus and a few mistakes in Game 5 – Columbus) but he’s been able to score enough to make up for it.
Ovechkin has eight goals in the postseason.
The Capitals will need their best player to be their best player and then some on Saturday night and for the rest of the series if they are going to win this round and finally vanquish the Penguins.
The good news? After Ovechkin’s somewhat pedestrian four shot-on-goal performance in Game 1 of the Columbus series, he scored twice in Game 2 of that series, both on the power-play.
After the few mistakes he made in a Game 5 overtime win over the Blue Jackets, Ovechkin responded with another two-goal performance in a series close-out win, on the road.
It’s been almost six years since Ovechkin went without a shot in a playoff game for the Caps. The last time was May 7, 2012, against the New York Rangers in Game 5 of that Eastern semi-final series. He had 19:08 of ice-time that night and bounced back with a goal the next game for the Capitals.
Perhaps it was losing Tom Wilson as his right-wing on the top line for the Caps. The trio of Ovechkin, Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov had been clicking for several months. Devante Smith-Pelley did not have any shots on goal, replacing Wilson. However, Kuznetsov had five shots.
Here’s the bottom-line: The Capitals are doing a lot of good things. For the most part, they’ve outplayed the Penguins through four games and yet, don’t have a lot to show for it, except they still control their own destiny.
To win, especially without the wrecking ball that Wilson has become, they need their best players to be great. Not good. Not OK. They need them to be GREAT. Ovechkin was far from it on Thursday night, but history tells us he should be ready on Saturday night in an enormous game for the Caps.
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