Caps Vs Bolts Post Game Recap

By Jake Ricker

Overview

The Bolts, who were fresh off a comeback win, hoped to keep the Caps around .500 however they were not able to continue their winning ways. The Bolts didn’t play a horrible game and they did have chances in the offensive zone and made some good stops but one costly mistake would be the reason for a tough loss. The Caps played a good game as well, especially backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer, as he got his first win of the season. Let’s take a look at how this happened period by period.

First Period

The Bolts played well at the start of this game, they would get an early power play where they quickly capitalized as Namestnikov deflected one into the net after Nikita Kucherov took a shot from the right circle to put the Bolts up 1-0. The Caps would then get a ton of odd-man rushes but the Bolts defense and Vasilevskiy stood strong and kept the Caps off the board. With 7:10 left to go, the Caps tried to pull a little trickery (not really) with the puck behind the net, a Caps forward slightly lifted the net allowing the puck to slip through it looked like the Caps had scored on a wraparound, but the goal was quickly waved off. But late in the first, Alex Ovechkin was able to put one past Vasy and tie the game at 1.

Goals: 1-1

Shots: 6-16 Caps

Second Period

The Bolts played a much better second as they killed off two penalties early on and had a few chances to nearly get the lead. However, the Caps stayed strong and were able to keep the Bolts off the board. The Caps made no mistake where the Bolts made a costly one and left Caps forward Devante Smith-Pelly all alone in front of Vasy and put the Caps up 2-1. The early parts of the second definitely belonged to the Bolts as their offence got back on track with plenty of more time on attack compared to the first, they did take three penalties but the PK played well and were able to kill them off their one slip up made all the difference as that’s why the Caps were up by 1.

Goals: 2-1 Caps

Shots: 30-16 Caps

Third Period

Both the Bolts and the Caps played a good final period, it was pretty even as both teams had some chances and both played well on defense, however, the Bolts couldn’t get anything going on their two power-play opportunities. The game stayed even until the Caps were eventually able to score on an empty net to put them up 3-1 and that would be the final score.

Goals: 3-1 Caps

Shots 38-26 Caps

 

3 Stars

1. Philipp Grubauer
2. Jay Beagle
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy

Up Next

The Bolts will look to get back in the win column as they play the second game of their back to back and take on the defending Stanly Cup Champions, the Pitsburg Penguins tomorrow at 7:00 PM.