Off-Night

The Capitals, who were supposed to be the worst team in the league, turned out to be an inspired group that capitalized on Red Wings' defensive breakdowns in the first period, leading to a 3-0 early deficet and CuJo taking the hook for his teammates' lack of support. The Wings were off all night. A clear sign is that despite taking 39 shots to Washington's 19, the Wings couldn't put the puck into the net until Draper scored with 14 minutes left in the game. The main reason for this was that the Wings couldn't get bodies in the right places in front of the net. On a dozen shots or more, the Wings had rebounds off Rastislav Stana, making his NHL debut, but couldn't get people to get on those pucks. The best line of the night was the Bootland line, which reflects their hardnose play. But for balance, a team has to have some offensive output or hardwork is pretty much in vain. It's kinda like watching a Draper breakaway over and over again; the guy puts his best effort through, but it's probably not going to be a goal. And we have plenty of guys who need to be capitalizing on shots. It's definitely an off-night when repeated attempts by Shanahan and Hull on the power play miss and miss again.