Friday, October 28, 2011

A NO-point night -- Game 8: Oilers 2 - Capitals 1

All good things come to an end.

The Caps lost their first game of the season last night, a 2-1 decision at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers. It came down to numbers…

11:03. The total amount of time that the Caps spent shorthanded last night. That number eclipsed the total amount of time spent killing penalties in the previous two games combined (10:51).

7… That’s where Dennis Wideman’s points streak comes to an end. Not for lack of trying. In more than 23 minutes of ice time he had nine shot attempts, three on goal.

5… That’s where the Caps’ consecutive games streak ends with at least one power play goal. They were 0-for-4 last night.

19… shots on goal in the third period, all of them stopped by Nikolai Khabibulin. In fact, Khabibulin stopped the last 31 shots he faced. The 19 shots the Caps had in the third equaled the Edmonton total for the entire game.

15… the total number of shots on goal put up by the top line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Troy Brouwer out of 35 total shots on goal. That line had 25 of the total 66 shot attempts.

4… hooking calls against the Caps. One more and the whole team would have been hauled off to the hooskow for solicitation.

2… last night was the first time since opening night that the Caps allowed two power play goals.

23… last night broke a streak of 23 games in which the Caps allowed an opponent five or fewer power plays (Edmonton had eight). It was the most allowed by the Caps since allowing nine in a 5-4 Gimmick loss to Philadelphia last November 20th.

4… Edmonton’s “kiddie line” of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had four of a possible six points on the two Edmonton goals.

2… Corey Potter had the other two points for the Oilers, his first multi-point game in the NHL.

On to Vancouver to start a new streak.

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