By Joe Pohoryles
The Capitals opened the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins last night, where goals from Tom Wilson, Brenden Dillon and Nic Dowd pushed the Caps to a 1-0 series lead. Despite the positive start, a tough series lies ahead.
The biggest concern comes in net, as Vitek Vanecek had to exit in the first period due to a lower-body injury. With Ilya Samsonov not quite ready to suit up after just coming off the COVID absence list, the almost 40-year-old Craig Anderson jumped in.
Anderson’s last playoff appearance was with the Ottawa Senators in 2017, where he backstopped the team to the Eastern Conference Finals. The 18-year NHL veteran with nearly 50 games of playoff experience was a contrast from Vanecek, making his first postseason start.
Anderson did enough to get the win, and while the goaltending was a concern even before Vanecek went out, I’m not liking this team’s prospects if they have to ride Anderson for the long haul.
Bold take, I realize, but in all seriousness, Anderson looked like a ping pong paddle most of the night, allowing high-danger rebounds throughout the game. Luckily, the Bruins didn’t capitalize, but it seems more like bad puck luck than anything else.
The Bruins missed the net 21 times, their most in a single game since 2018, and while Boston fans will be busy lamenting their own goaltender situation (*rolls eyes*), the Bruins will be studying more of Anderson’s tendencies and be better prepared to position themselves in the right places for the inevitably juicy rebounds.
The goaltending situation looks rough (for us, just to clarify. Not for the whiners with a future Hall of Famer in the crease), but to avoid dwelling on the negative, the Caps will give themselves a solid chance to pull out another win no matter who’s protecting their net if they continue these two things:
- Shutting down Boston’s top six
- Laying on more big hits
These are both overwhelmingly obvious keys to stopping any team, but Boston’s top six is as good as any in the league, and it was largely a non-factor in Game 1 besides Taylor Hall drawing a couple power play opportunities for the B’s.
Additionally, Patrice Bergeron had a field day on the face-off dot and David Pastrnak had multiple oh-so-close chances on the doorstep (he’ll be cashing in sooner or later), but overall, the Caps did a solid job shutting them down.
The Bruins won’t miss the net 21 times again, but if the Caps can continue limiting Brad Marchand’s impact to pre-game charitable gestures, then they’ll be able to level the playing field.
That task is much easier said than done, but the second point goes hand-in-hand with it. The Caps were punishing the Bruins physically from the get-go and that has to continue. The Bruins got some good hits in of their own, but the Caps have to continue to set the tone and wear the opponent’s down. I’m excited to see how both teams respond in Game 2.
Coming in, I had Boston winning in five or six games. The additions of Hall, Curtis Lazar and Mike Reilly have all had positive impacts, to varying extents, and I just don’t see the Caps, lacking in center-depth and goaltending, keeping up. I hope I’m wrong, but I still see Boston winning in six.
Three Caps Game 1 Highlights:
Craig Anderson– I went into detail about my concern about him going forward, but he deserves props for stepping in with little preparation and getting the win in Game 1.
Tom Wilson– Even if you ignore his gorgeous top-shelf goal (and why would you?), Willy was the best all-around player last night, in my opinion. He was confident in the offensive zone, looking strong on the puck and creating numerous chances. He also was as physical as usual in the defensive end. With Evgeny Kuznetsov out and TJ Oshie working back from injury, Wilson is stepping up at the right time.
Conor Sheary– Sheary continues to pay major dividends on a minimum contract. His forechecking game was on point, and I loved his overall aggression and puck movement. As far as third-line production goes, Sheary looks like he could be 2021’s version of Brett Connolly.
Three Caps Game 1 Lowlights:
Anthony Mantha– ‘Lowlight’ may be the wrong word here, but I do want to see more from him in general. He has no goals since his four-game goal streak to open his Capitals tenure, and while he’s contributed assists, we can’t have a 2019/2020 playoff Jakub Vrana repeat on the second line.
John Carlson– Hopefully he’s just shaking off some rust after missed time, but he committed a handful of sloppy turnovers in both zones throughout the game. He’s gotta clean things up.
Evgeny Kuznetsov/Ilya Samsonov– They can share this title, since they seem to love sharing plenty of other things. I don’t think anyone knows exactly what’s going on with these two, as some sources speculated management is done with Kuznetsov and he’s played his final game in a Caps uniform, but it looks like he’s close to coming back, if the playoff run lasts long enough.
Whatever the case, the Caps would be much better off with these two contributing, and they wound up unavailable at the worst possible time. Can’t be letting the team down in playoff time.
Cover Photo Credit: NHL.com
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