When Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carberry came to the podium on Wednesday night after losing to the Florida Panthers, he was miffed. You could see how frustrated he was to watch his team lose just 15 seconds into overtime in a game where the Caps pushed a solid Florida Panthers team to the brink.
Sure, you get a point for going to overtime, and honestly, when you play three-on-three, anything can happen. But it is clear that through 11 games, Spencer Carbery wants to see more from his 5-4-2 Capitals squad, and he certainly didn’t mince words at the podium.
“Kuzy out of position,” Carbery said when asked about his perspective on Florida’s overtime goal. “He chased down ice and then lost a foot race. If you’re going to chase down ice, you can’t get beat, and he got beat. We made some egregious mistakes with the puck that, against a team like them, you just can’t make. Especially against their best people, who are all feeling it tonight and buzzing around. Yeah, we just made some really, really mind-boggling plays with the puck, decisions with the puck, and positional stuff in the second and third periods. We had a few looks; we did. But not near to our standard and what we are capable of.”
There was no shortage of frustrating moments for the Capitals during Wednesday night’s loss to the Panthers, including another goal taken off the scoreboard after a review. This time, it was Sonny Milano’s goal to take the lead 3-2, which, after a review, concluded that Tom Wilson was offside. The Caps have had five goals called back after review already this season.
The Capitals then iced the puck in the third period following an extended defensive line shift, only to give the Panthers the puck in the offensive zone and surrender a back door tap in a
game-tying goal.
“The icing in the third, the coverage in the backside… You’re going to make mistakes. It’s hockey, right? It’s sports. There are going to be mistakes throughout the game and mismanaged pucks and all that sort of stuff,” Carbery said about the mistakes in the game. He added, “You just can’t make egregious mistakes, and those are examples of them where you can’t lose the guy on the backside and give up a backdoor tap-in. You can’t ice the puck when you’re already tired. There’s options; at least just go skate behind the net, just stop and just hold and, Okay, let me reset here.”
With 12 points and a 5-4-2 record, the Capitals sit in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division ahead of the Penguins, who also have 12 points, and the Flyers and the Blue Jackets, tied with 11 points. They play back-to-back games in New Jersey and in New York to try to rebound.