After scoring five goals on Friday night, the Washington Capitals’ (4-2-0) four-game winning streak came to an end with a 4-3 home loss to the Vancouver Canucks (4-2-0).
The Capitals got off to a rough start in the first period by allowing three goals. Elias Pettersson scored the first tally for the Canucks 59 seconds into the contest.
Vancouver followed that up Tyler Myers and Kiefer Sherwood scoring to make it 3-0 at the first intermission. Then, Teddy Krueger made it 4-0 early in the second.
“We just weren’t ready to play in a bunch of different facets,” said head coach Spencer Carbery. “Couldn’t forecheck, couldn’t get a puck in, struggled to exit our zone, bunch of touches that went south on us.”
Washington finally got on the board in the middle frame when Ryan Leonard scored a power play goal. The Caps later added two goals in the third period courtesy of Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson.
By scoring three unanswered goals, Washington had a chance to pull a miraculous comeback by tying it up late. Unfortunately, they came up short.
With the winning streak over, the Capitals finish their four-game homestand against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
Capitals Analysis
Washington doesn’t often play well on early Sunday afternoon, and the first period was clear evidence of that. Elias Pettersson opened the contest with a goal for the Canucks within the first minute.
Things got worse when a scrum in front led to Tyler Myers shooting the puck past Charlie Lindgren to make it 2-0. The Capitals then challenged the goal looking for goalie interference, but the tally still counted.
This led to Washington going on the penalty kill, where they gave up a third Vancouver goal, courtesy of Kiefer Sherwood.
Despite giving up another goal in the middle frame, the Capitals actually started to play well afterwards. They happened to outshoot the Canucks 22-5 on the 5-on-5 in the second. Unfortunately, Vancouver’s goalie Thatcher Demko has been on a roll in net lately.
Ryan Leonard scored the first Washington goal on the man advantage to cut the deficit to 4-1 in the second period. This marked Leonard’s first career power-play goal.
In the third, the Caps cut it to 4-2 when Chychrun scored off a great feed from Hendrix Lapierre. Anthony Beauvillier, Rasmus Sandin, and Justin Sourdif also did a tremendous job keeping the puck alive.
John Carlson then made it a one-goal game when he shot the puck in from the point with over two minutes left. Washington continued their rally attempt with an extra attacker, but they came up short.
“The first [period] determines the game,” said Carbery. “We did a lot of good things in the second and third, but you also have to take that with a grain of salt. Teams play a little differently when they’re winning 4-0, so they sit back a little bit.”
Capitals Report Card
Team: C
The whole team got off to a rough start in the first period. Being down 4-0 by the second period will likely not win you the game. However, the Capitals then started to play better the rest of regulation. They were very close to pulling off a miraculous comeback to tie it up at 4-4 late.
Tom Wilson: B
Wilson once again played a physical contest. He was all over the ice and was credited with an assist on the Carlson goal.
Things got controversial when Wilson was originally sent to the penalty box for a hit on Vancouver’s Filip Chytil. However, the penalty was negated after the refs deemed it a clean hit.
Charlie Lindgren: D
Lindgren got the start over Logan Thompson, and it was a performance to forget. Lindgren gave up four goals, including three in the first period.
