The Washington Capitals saw a few fine streaks come to an
end because they could not stop another one in a 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars
on Monday night at Verizon Center.
Washington, winners of three straight overall, saw its 15-game home
winning streak come to an end, and goaltender Braden Holtby saw his personal
21-decision streak without suffering a loss in regulation (19-0-2) come to an
end. For the Stars it was their sixth
straight win against the Caps at Verizon Center.
Things got off to a bad start for the Caps when the Stars
scored less than two minutes into the contest.
After Holtby stopped Patrick Sharp with his left pad at the doorstep,
the puck ended up behind the net where Sharp fished it out. As Sharp was trying to work the puck back in
front, Brooks Orpik was tied up with Devin Shore in the Caps’ goal crease. Shore tumbled into Holtby, preventing him
from getting across to his right to cover the puck lying in the blue paint. With Sharp and Shore whacking at it, Shore
finally edged it across the goal line, and after a coach’s challenge for
goaltender interference, the goal was upheld just 1:48 into the game.
The score remained 1-0 into the second period when Dallas
scored a pair in short order early in the period. Radek Faksa intercepted an attempted clear up
the middle by Nicklas Backstrom and snapped the puck past Holtby 4:04 into the
period. Less than two minutes later,
Jason Spezza ended Holtby’s night when, off another giveaway in the defensive
end, he one-timed a feed from Jamie Benn past Holtby’s right pad. With just 5:58 gone in the second period, it
was 3-0, Stars.
Backstrom got one back for the Caps when he started and
ended a play. After Backstrom won a
faceoff to the right of goalie Kari Lehtonen, the Caps worked the puck around
the offensive zone to the right point.
Kevin Shattenkirk sent the puck to the net, where Backstrom redirected
it past Lehtonen at the 15:52 mark to make it a 3-1 game.
Mid-way through the third period, T.J. Oshie got the Caps
within a goal. Oshie left the puck for Karl Alzner at the right point, and
Alzner circled out with it to the middle of the ice. He threaded a pass between two Stars to Oshie
cutting through the right wing circle.
Oshie carried the puck between the hash marks, then snapped a backhand
over Lehtonen’s glove and off the crossbar into the net at the 12:26 mark to
make it 3-2, Stars.
That would be as close as the Caps would get, though. Sharp
scored an empty netter with 1:28 to go to put the game out of reach for the
Caps and end their franchise-best home winning streak, 4-2.
Other stuff…
-- It was the first loss at home in 2017, their first since
a 2-1 Gimmick loss to the New Jersey Devils on December 29th. It was their first loss in regulation on home
ice since a 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on December 17th.
-- Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and an assist for his 17th
multi-point game of the season and 193rd of his career, third in club history behind
Peter Bondra (208) and Alex Ovechkin (293).
-- Karl Alzner had an assist, giving him ten on the season,
the sixth time he reached that mark in helpers in his career.
-- Alex Ovechkin tied a season high of nine shots on goal
(he had nine in a 4-3 loss to the New York Islanders on December 29th). Oddly enough, only four of the last 18 games
in which he recorded nine or more shots on goal did he find the back of the
net.
-- For Ovechkin it was his seventh straight game without a
goal, tying a season high (Games 20-26 in late-November/early-December).
-- Backstrom recorded a season high seven shots on
goal. It was just the fourth time in his
career that he recorded seven or more shots on goal in a game and his first
since he had seven in a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 7, 2013.
-- Of the team’s 19 blocked shots, the defense had 16 of
them, led by Alzner with five. Carlson,
who blocked four shots, had four of his own shots blocked, most on the team.
-- Washington won 42 of 65 faceoffs (64.6 percent).
-- Sure, the Caps out-attempted the Stars, 58-40 at 5-on-5
for the game, but that margin was 18-16 for the Stars in the first period and
just 37-33 for the Caps after 40 minutes.
The Caps, trying to erase a two-goal deficit to start the third period,
had a 21-7 edge in the third period (numbers from Corsica.hockey).
-- Someday, Braden Holtby will earn a win against the last
team in the league against which he has failed to do so, but in this one he
never seemed to be quite on his game after the first, disputed goal. Still, this was just the third time this
season that Holtby logged fewer than 40 minutes in a game. Quite impressive when you consider that it
has happened six times to both Marc-Andre Fleury and Henrik Lundqvist this
season, five times to Matt Murray and Tuukka Rask, four times to Ben Bishop and
Pekka Rinne.
In the end…
The Caps started the game a bit passive, were bitten for it,
and spent the rest of the game catching up.
The final numbers, especially in possession, looked more impressive than
they were with one confounding exception.
They pummeled the Stars for 14 shots on goal in 7:34 of power play ice
time, four of those shots off the stick of Alex Ovechkin, and another four from
Jakub Vrana. It is rare that the Caps
would unleash that kind of fury and not reap any reward for it. But, it happens. Too bad it happened in the last home game
before a west coast trip, where it will be a chore to maintain their lofty
status atop the league standings.
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