Ottawa opened the scoring early in the first period when
Chris Kelly and Tom Pyatt broke out of the defensive end on a 2-on-1 rush with
the Caps on a power play. Kelly fed
Pyatt, who carried the puck on the left side into the Caps’ zone. Kelly darted to the net with Marcus Johansson
trying to close the gap. Johansson was
not able to close the distance completely, and Pyatt fed him for a backhander
that beat goalie Philipp Grubauer at the 1:46 mark.
The Senators doubled their lead less than three minutes
later. With a Senators power play just
expiring, Grubauer turned away a Bobby Ryan point-blank shot, but the puck
skittered into the left wing faceoff circle where Derick Brassard chased it
down. He fed it out to Fredrik Claesson,
whose one-timer was redirected by Ryan past Grubauer with just 4:10 gone in the
period.
Ottawa added a goal in the second period on a power play, Zach
Smith getting his 12th goal of the season. That was all Mike Condon needed as he stopped
all 31 shots he faced to earn the 3-0 shutout.
Other stuff…
-- The Caps came up one game short of tying their
franchise-high 15 game points streak (2009-2010, when they went 14-0-1). The streak ends with a record of 12-0-2.
-- This was the first time this season that the Caps were
shut out on the road and the third time overall. Oddly enough, all three shutouts came with
3-0 scores, the others at home to the New York Islanders and San Jose Sharks.
-- Alex Ovechkin had 21:01 in ice time, five hits, and took
two minor penalties. Bad combo. The Caps are now 1-6-3 when he logs at least
20 minutes in ice time, 2-4-2 when he records five or more hits, and 2-2-1 when
he is charged with two or more penalties in a game.
-- Another streak of sorts ended with this game. Coming in, the Caps had not suffered a loss
by more than one goal over a 25-game stretch (19-2-4) dating back to the 3-0
shutout at the hands of the Islanders on December 1st.
-- The Caps had six power plays in a road game for just the
second time this season. They lost the
other one, too. Tampa Bay beat the Caps,
2-1, in a Gimmick in which the Caps went 1-for-6 on their power play.
-- Only one Capital taking more than one faceoff finished
over 50 percent – the new guy. Chandler
Stephenson won two of three draws.
-- For the first time this season, the Caps allowed an even
strength goal, a power play goal, and a shorthanded goal in one game. The last time they did that was in a 5-2 loss
to the San Jose Sharks on March 12, 2016.
The Sharks added an empty netter for good measure in that one.
-- The Caps won’t be sad to see Ottawa in their rear view
mirror. They managed just three goals on
79 shots in the three games against them in the season series, which they won,
2-1-0.
-- The Caps had four shorthanded shots on goal in 7:04 of
Ottawa power play time. Daniel Winnik
and T.J. Oshie each had a pair.
-- Philipp Grubauer had an okay night, but that’s three
straight appearances in which he has allowed three goals, stopping 71 of 80
shots (.888 save percentage).
In the end…
All good things, just like all bad things, come to an
end. The loss takes nothing away from the
remarkable run the Caps have been on, especially as this was their third game
in four nights. The trick is to try to
recharge with a day off before trying to end the pre-All-Star game break with a
win in New Jersey.
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