The Caps power play was pretty brutal tonight, and the consensus in the locker room after the game was the man-advantage woes let them down in a 3-2 loss to the Canucks.
Washington had only one shot on goal in four power-play chances, including zero shots on net during the three opportunities in the second/early third with a 2-1 lead and a chance to put it out of reach.
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Here’s a few more notes before it is time to say goodbye to lovely Vancouver and move onto well, less lovely Edmonton:
* Alex Ovechkin had no shots on goal in the first 40 minutes and three for the game. Vancouver coach Alan Vigneault matched Ryan Kesler’s line and his defense pairing of Sami Salo and Willie Mitchell against Ovechkin’s line, and those guys put the clamps down on him about as well as any team has.
Kesler could be a top candidate for the Selke trophy, and he looked the part tonight. He also had a goal (with the help of Jeff Schultz’s skate). He’s going to be key player for Team USA here in a couple of months because of his solid two-way play.
* Mason Raymond is fast. Scary fast. He also had two goals tonight, including a very pretty one early and the winner on a PP rebound. The Canucks’ second line was more dangerous than the Sedins unit, but that might have been a result of going against Ovechkin’s line as well.
* Tom Poti was not happy with the cross-checking call (obviously). He said the ref gave him the extra two minutes for slamming the door to the box. His antics while still on the ice probably didn’t help matters, either.
* Tomas Fleischmann said he got picked when he was trying to circle back and cover up for Mike Green on the 2-on-1 goal for Raymond. Green had a ton of open ice and skated in, and Fleischmann said someone was holding him when he tried to get back.
* Thought Karl Alzner had another very nice game, even if he didn’t get much ice time in the final period. It might be time for Milan Jurcina to join him as part of that pairing, though.
* Both goals against Roberto Luongo came on weird plays — one with Brooks Laich skates up in the Vancouver bench and one after two shots were blocked and he was left out of position. Brendan Morrison said they didn’t get nearly enough traffic in front of him.
