First off, full marks to the Blues, who played a terrific game from start to finish despite missing some key players from their lineup. The Caps had no answer for the St. Louis top six, which routinely swaggered its way through the middle of the ice and to the net, virtually from the game's outset.
Just over a minute into the game, Vitek Vanecek had to make a big stop on a Brayden Schenn backhander from in tight after a Caps turnover deep in their own zone. Five minutes later, Schenn put another backhander from the top of the paint off the post.
The Caps drew first blood, going up 1-0 on Evgeny Kuznetsov's power-play goal at 8:10 of the first, and the two sides traded tallies for the rest of the first.
The Blues' Brandon Saad answered by going from his own blueline straight down Broadway and beating Vanecek with a backhander through the five-hole at 11:48. The Caps restored their lead on a nifty Tom Wilson goal less than two minutes later; he took a perfect feed from Anthony Mantha on a 2-on-1 and scored to make it 2-1.
That was as good as it would get for the Caps. Aside from David Perron's empty-netter in the final minute, the rest of the St. Louis goals were clinics in how not to play defense, much like the first one was.
Ryan O'Reilly scored on the power play, a second after Vanecek made two quick saves, but left rebounds in dicey locations. Old pal Nathan Walker scored the game-winner, a goal on which Vanecek got a glove on a Schenn shot - after the Blues came the length of the ice untouched - but couldn't hold onto it; Walker scored after Schenn swept the rebound to him.
Late in the second, Schenn came out from behind the Washington net uncontested, and fired from the slot. Vanecek made the stop but had no chance at the rebound; Caps winger Conor Sheary - as the lone blue sweater in the vicinity of the crease - accidentally knocked him over and knocked the catching glove off his hand in the process.
Offensively, it wasn't much better for the Caps, particularly after the first period. Washington managed just four shots on net in each of the last two periods, and it was out-attempted 31-16 at 5-on-5 in the final 40 minutes. The Caps went nearly nine minutes without a shot on net in the second and were without one for seven and a half minutes in the third.
Mistakes were made, and this one is best forgotten, aside from remembering not to repeat those glaring breakdowns in coverage.
As David Byrne once sang, "The less we say about it, the better …"
Sawbuck Streak -With his power-play goal in the first, Kuznetsov extended his career-high scoring streak to 10 points. Kuznetsov has seven goals and six assists over the life of the streak, and the goal was his eighth power-play goal of the season, which ranks second only to Alex Ovechkin (13) on the team this season.
Coming into this season, Kuznetsov had a pair of eight-game point streaks in his NHL career. His '21-22 total of eight power-play goals matches his single-season career best, established in 2018-19.
When The Whip Comes Down - Wilson's goal gives him 44 points (19 goals, 25 assists) on the season, matching his career high established in 2019-20. Wilson had 44 points in 68 games in '19-20; he got it done in seven fewer games this season and still has 16 games remaining with which to add to that total.
Wilson is putting up points at a rate of .72 per game this season, the fifth straight season in which he has increased that rate, which began its climb from .23 points per game in 2016-17.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 23:40 in ice time … Ovechkin and Justin Schultz led the Caps with four shots on net each … Martin Fehervary led the Caps with seven hits … Garnet Hathaway led the Caps with three blocked shots.
