Caps feel Wilson’s absence in loss to physical Senators team originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Capitals played their brand of hockey in the first period against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. They battled for pucks, applied consistent pressure to keep the play in the offensive zone and made well-timed passes to set up a pair of goals, giving them a 2-0 lead as they went into the locker room for intermission.
That identity is one the new-look Senators had hoped to apply this season with a core that included physical, young players like Brady Tkachuk and Artem Zub. They came out for the second period and did just that, taking over the game by dominating puck possession and displaying an aggressive style of physicality the Capitals didn’t match to beat them 5-2.
“I thought we reacted to them in the second period,” Capitals head coach Laviolette said in his postgame press conference. “If you’re initiating, you can get the other team to react and I thought we reacted to their physicality.”
Ottawa’s margin in hits was only 28-24 on the game, but the difference in the game was how the Senators kept the puck in the Capitals’ zone and tired them out before they could generate any momentum on the other end. Over the final two periods, the Senators led in shots on goal 37-12 while allowing just one high-danger scoring chance, according to Natural Stat Trick.
It was a game where the presence of winger Tom Wilson could’ve made all the difference. The Senators’ final two goals were empty-netters; it was a one-score contest heading into the final moments. Wilson is not only one of the most physical players in the NHL, he also plays top-six minutes and makes his presence felt throughout a game.
With Wilson expected to be out until at least mid-December with a torn ACL he suffered during the playoffs last season, the Capitals traded for Connor Brown from those very Senators to replace at least his scoring production. Brown was denied the chance to face his former team when he suffered a significant lower-body injury Monday that landed him on IR.
But Ottawa took advantage of Washington being down Wilson, bringing a level of physicality it might not have gotten away with had he been on the ice. NBC Sports Washington’s Brent Johnson discussed the hole Wilson left behind during Capitals Postgame Live.
“They were getting hit all over the ice, they were getting plastered in the boards every time they touched the puck,” Johnson said. “It kinda goes to show — they’re missing Evgeny Kuznetsov in that top spot — but they miss a guy like Tom Wilson, a guy that’s going to make these guys shake in their boots after getting physical on every single guy on the Capitals.”
The Capitals have found ways to bring the physicality without Wilson. After all, Washington entered play Thursday with an NHL-leading 168 hits on the young season. Yet, it’s going to be another five or six weeks before Wilson can return. As Thursday night showed, it won’t always be easy.
