Good Friday morning Caps fans. I hope you all are having a good week and that the weekend is beckoning.

The Caps survived a do-or-die showdown with red-hot St. Louis City, grabbing a 0-0 draw and maintaining their spot at the top of the Western Conference.

This was a tale of two halves. The Caps were very good in the first half, piling on the pressure while giving St. Louis little room to maneuver. All that was missing was a goal.

The second half was when the home side found a foothold and got back in the match. Yohei Takoka had to step up with a big save on old friend Simon Becher to keep the match 0-0. The Caps were clearly gassed and, for the last 10 minutes or so, St. Louis was too, and Vancouver were able to see things out without issue.

This marks two games in a row where Yohei Takoka has been instrumental, and the return of Ralph Priso has helped the defense look more organized and effective. Brian White had a couple of chances he would like back, but he continues to show more chemistry with Yadaly Diaby, which is good news. Ryan Gauld was also excellent in this one.

The problem for the Caps right now is that they are running on fumes. The bench is mighty thin at the moment and, until Jeevan Badwal and Thomas Müller return, it is likely to stay that way. Playing down a man for virtually the entire match over the weekend clearly drained a lot from this team’s battery.

Still, these are two crucial draws. And this is the first time in a while that the Caps have strung together performances reminiscent of this team during 2025 and the early part of 2026. They will need to start picking up all three points in some of their upcoming matches, but this team feels like they’ve gotten some mojo back.

There’s no better place to start returning to winning ways than Austin, where the Caps head this weekend to take on a team that hasn’t won since … they beat Vancouver at BC Place. That means the Caps can’t overlook their opponent, but it does mean a different sort of challenge after two matches against upper-echelon Western Conference opposition.

Shameless Self Promotion

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