This is your Morning Commute. Additional links after the jump.
The Washington Capitals lost last night...again. They got a couple goals on the board, but it wasn't enough to earn a win against the San Jose Sharks. So what went wrong? Japers' Rink, the preeminent source for everything Capitals Hockey, says the top line played well, but they need to get some help.
The top line of Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble came to play right from the start tonight, with Ovechkin in particular firing on all cylinders and getting the Caps on the board with a huge power play goal. The way they were playing, the fact that they accounted for all the scoring and over half of the shots on goal (14 of 25 total) is hardly a surprise - and neither is the fact that, when the captain shows up, usually his team does, too. Would have liked to see Backstrom win that final draw, though...or not take it at all.
Getting a goal from Ovechkin, particularly on a power play, is always a good way to start the game. But the Caps couldn't really follow through on that good start. In a game like Hockey where the best players on the team spend so little time actually playing, at least relative to other sports, the secondary players need to be more effective. The Capitals have a lot of elite talent on their team, but it doesn't really mean anything if they don't get their supporting actors to follow suit.
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