Recap: Capitals 4, Blues 1

I was expected a let-down. Boy, was I wrong, starting in net. Semyon Varlamov again got the nod, again got the net knocked over him, and was again stellar.

Here's the storyline. Tell me this doesn't sound familiar:

Team A dominates early.
Team A takes a penalty.
Team B scores a power play goal.
Team A is launching shots from everywhere, getting good chances, but a hot goalie denies them all.
Team A is starting to lose life, but get a goal and get their legs back.
Team B scores in transition off an A turnover and bad pinch.
Team A can't score on its power plays and looks totally discombobulated during them, while Team B clinically passes the puck around and tallies.
Team A gets nothing, and Team B ices it with an empty netter, despite A dominating the shot count.

Take that, Halak. If we can do it to you we can do it to Kari Lehtonen on Thursday night, right?
No thoughts on the stats tonight since I actually have to get ready for school really soon.

Well, except that the Blues had exactly two players in negative Corsi territory--Dave Scatchard and Stefan Della Rovere, who was -6 on a +20 night for St. Louis. Heck, DJ King was a +5. Ouch.

Scoring chances, thanks to Vic Ferrari's script.

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20361

Team	Period	Time	Note	WSH						Opponent
STL	1	18:44	ZP Steen power move to front	1	8	19	22	52	55	5	18	20	26	27	41	5v5
STL	1	18:02	ZP D\'Agostini shot deflected	1	10	15	17	27	74	17	21	28	33	36	41	5v5
WSH	1	16:25	FO Backstrom and Laich with loose puck in front	1	8	19	21	28	52	5	21	27	41	42		5v4
STL	1	15:52	T Backes 2-on-1	1	8	19	21	28	52	4	6	21	41	42		5v4
STL	1	14:52	T McDonald 2-on-1	1	8	16	22	52	90	5	10	20	27	41		5v4
WSH	1	12:08	T Laich drives to front	1	8	19	21	28	52	5	21	27	41	42		5v4
WSH	1	11:48	ZP GOAL Laich	1	8	19	21	28	52	5	21	27	41	42		5v4
WSH	1	9:44	T Ovechkin between-the-legs move	1	8	19	22	52	55	5	18	20	26	27	41	5v5
STL	1	8:17	ZP Colaiacovo slapper with traffic	1	3	15	19	55		6	10	15	21	28	41	4v5
WSH	1	4:42	ZP Bradley off a funny bounce	1	10	15	17	27	74	18	19	20	28	33	41	5v5
STL	1	4:04	ZP McClement wrister	1	21	27	28	74	90	5	10	18	26	27	41	5v5
STL	1	3:29	ZP Backes alone in front	1	25	26	28	52	55	4	6	10	22	41	42	5v5
STL	1	2:36	T Crombeen 3-on-2	1	8	19	22	52	55	5	18	20	26	27	41	5v5
STL	1	2:10	ZP Steen nice dekes and shot	1	3	4	8	19	22	5	18	20	22	27	41	5v5
STL	1	2:04	ZP Boyes rebound, fantastic save by Varlamov	1	15	21	52	55		20	22	28	36	41	42	4v5
WSH	2	18:14	T Fehr backhand	1	3	4	16	25	26	17	21	28	33	36	41	5v5
STL	2	17:55	T Sobotka shot, D\'Agostini rebound	1	3	4	16	25	26	17	21	28	33	36	41	5v5
WSH	2	16:17	T AO wrister	1	8	15	22	52	55	4	6	10	22	41	42	5v5
STL	2	14:11	T Colaiacovo sneaks in	1	16	25	26	52	55	17	21	28	33	36	41	5v5
STL	2	18:50	T Boyes 2-on-2	1	8	19	22	52	55	5	18	20	26	27	41	5v5
WSH	2	10:08	ZP Fehr in front (followed in 10 seconds by Gordon goal)	1	3	4	16	25	26	17	21	28	33	36	41	5v5
WSH	2	2:44	T Ovechkin power move to front	1	8	19	22	27	74	4	17	18	26	27	41	5v5
STL	2	1:14	T McDonald shot	1	3	16	21	55	90	10	22	27	28	41	42	5v5
STL	2	0:33	ZP GOAL Steen	1	10	15	25	27	74	5	20	21	26	27	41	5v5
STL	3	17:38	T D\'Agostini wrister	1	4	16	25	26	74	4	6	15	21	36	41	5v5
WSH	3	12:55	ZP GOAL Backstrom	1	8	19	22	55	74	5	6	17	18	36	41	5v5
WSH	3	11:32	T Semin breakaway	1	4	21	28	52	90	4	6	10	22	41	42	5v5
STL	3	11:07	T Boyes hits post	1	21	27	28	52	90	4	6	10	20	22	41	5v5
STL	3	9:50	ZP Backes through traffic	1	16	25	26	55	74	4	6	10	20	22	41	5v5
WSH	3	8:55	ZP Bradley rebound	1	10	15	17	27	74	6	10	20	22	28	41	5v5
STL	3	8:42	T Steen wrister	1	10	15	17	27	74	6	10	20	22	28	41	5v5
STL	3	7:34	ZP D\'Agostini rebound	1	4	8	19	22	52	4	15	18	27	36	41	5v5
STL	3	6:20	ZP Berglund out of the air	1	16	25	26	27	74	5	6	17	21	41	42	5v5
STL	3	4:57	ZP	1	19	21	27	74		20	22	28	36	41	42	4v5
WSH	3	0:35	T GOAL Backstrom	1	4	8	19	22	52	17	20	21	27	28	42	5v5

#	Player	EV			PP			SH
1	S. VARLAMOV	49:01	10	17	2:59	3	2	8:00	0	3
3	T. POTI	8:40	2	3	0:00	0	0	2:20	0	1
4	J. ERSKINE	13:19	4	4	0:13	0	0	1:44	0	0
8	A. OVECHKIN	16:06	5	5	2:46	3	2	0:00	0	0
10	M. BRADLEY	9:40	2	3	0:13	0	0	0:00	0	0
15	B. GORDON	11:30	3	3	0:00	0	0	2:26	0	2
16	E. FEHR	9:40	2	6	1:08	0	1	0:00	0	0
17	D. KING	7:44	2	2	0:00	0	0	0:00	0	0
19	N. BACKSTROM	14:41	4	5	1:38	3	1	2:55	0	2
21	B. LAICH	11:25	1	3	1:38	3	1	3:22	0	2
22	M. KNUBLE	15:34	5	5	1:08	0	1	1:21	0	0
25	J. CHIMERA	12:52	2	7	0:13	0	0	1:31	0	0
26	M. HENDRICKS	11:52	2	6	0:13	0	0	1:21	0	0
27	K. ALZNER	18:12	3	6	0:00	0	0	3:02	0	1
28	A. SEMIN	13:37	1	3	1:38	3	1	2:25	0	0
52	M. GREEN	20:24	4	7	2:59	3	2	2:01	0	1
55	J. SCHULTZ	19:55	3	7	0:00	0	0	3:51	0	2
74	J. CARLSON	18:02	4	7	0:00	0	0	3:02	0	1
90	M. JOHANSSON	11:52	1	3	1:08	0	1	0:39	0	0

Period	Totals		EV		PP		5v3 PP		SH		5v3 SH
1	5	10	2	6	3	2	0	0	0	2	0	0
2	4	5	4	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	4	7	4	6	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	13	22	10	17	3	2	0	0	0	3	0	0

 

I don't have the time right now to finish up the H2H scoring chance data, but I'll update as soon as I can. Updated. Green and Schultz look brutal, but their zonestart was +10. Plus ten!!! When you start so much in the defensive zone--especially against top lines and elite checking centers--you may look bad. Schultz looks like he's going through a bit of a rough stretch--either that or his partners are. Watch out for that tonight.