The sound of a puck clanging into the metal post echoed throughout Capital One Arena not once but twice in the Washington Capitals’ 4-3 shootout loss Thursday night to the Chicago Blackhawks. On each of the Capitals’ first two attempts, the metalwork came to the aid of Blackhawks goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. On the third, against captain Alex Ovechkin, Fleury needed only his pads to secure the win.
Ovechkin’s trip was necessary to keep the Capitals alive after Patrick Kane beat Vitek Vanecek for the lone goal of the skills session.
Washington, which opened a four-game homestand, fell to 14-4-6. Chicago went to 8-12-2.
“Just a little bit unlucky,” said Evgeny Kuznetsov, who took the first attempt in the shootout. “It’s kind of lottery. We knew that Kane are going to have a pretty good chance to score. So I had to at least score one, but it didn’t work out, so I guess we’ll have to practice, get better.”
The Capitals were looking to rebound after Tuesday’s gut-punch of a loss at the Florida Panthers, in which they squandered a three-goal lead. Instead, they blew another third-period advantage, unable to hold on after Garnet Hathaway gave them a 3-2 lead 57 seconds into the final frame.
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“I don’t have a problem with the third,” Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t like losing. I don’t think we gave up very much. We will go back and look at it. Gave up two chances in the third period, and that was it.”
Hathaway scored after he sprung out of the penalty box and slipped the puck past Fleury on the breakaway. Eleven minutes later, Seth Jones scored an equalizer, and neither team could find the back of the net until Kane won it in the shootout.
“A point’s a point. It’s better than zero obviously,” Hathaway said. “But we’re a good enough team where we need to fight for two points every night.”
Washington scored twice in the second period, with goals from Nic Dowd and Kuznetsov. Dowd tapped in a feed from Carl Hagelin in front to tie the game at 1 at 1:10 of the second, his third goal of the season. It also gave him points in three of his past five games.
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After Dominik Kubalik scored Chicago’s lone second-period goal to put the Blackhawks up 2-1, Kuznetsov knotted the game with 2:29 left in the second, tapping in a pass from Ovechkin that deflected off a skate in front and ricocheted off the post.
Alex DeBrincat gave Chicago an early 1-0 lead with 59.3 seconds left in the first period. Kane dished the puck to DeBrincat on an odd-man rush, and DeBrincat put it past Vanecek with his backhand.
Vanecek finished with 25 saves. Fleury also finished with 25.
Here is what to know from the Capitals’ home loss:
Ovechkin delivers the boom
Ovechkin delivered a heavy hit on Connor Murphy less than a minute into the second period. Murphy went straight to the locker room and was later ruled out for the remainder of the game. Chicago did not disclose the nature of his injury.
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Ovechkin appeared to make clean upper-chest contact with Murphy on the initial hit, but it appeared Murphy hit his face into the boards after the collision.
“That was a huge hit. Hope he’s okay,” Hathaway said. “But it was one that got our bench going, brought us into the game, grabbed you by the throat and dragged you in. That’s a testament to [Ovechkin].”
Vanecek gets the nod
It was Vanecek’s first start since Washington’s 5-2 loss to Seattle on Nov 21. Laviolette said Thursday morning he wanted to see Vanecek back on the ice after Ilya Samsonov started the four previous games, going 3-1-0 in that stretch.
Special teams rut
Kubalik’s power-play goal was the fourth special teams goal scored against the Capitals in their past two games. Washington allowed a shorthanded goal and two power-play goals in its loss at Florida, contributing to a third-period meltdown that saw the Panthers score four unanswered goals.
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Chicago finished 1 for 2 on the power play. The Blackhawks were 0 for 13 in their previous six games.
Washington was 0 for 1 on the power play Thursday night and is 2 for 11 in its past four games.
Overtime woes
The Capitals’ overtime woes are a recurring theme in the first quarter of the season. They couldn’t control the puck, couldn’t convert their best chances and were a step too slow.
Against the Blackhawks, they had three solid shots on goal in the four-on-four, including one that hit the post, but were unable to solve Fleury and are now winless in six overtime chances this season.
Sprong returns
Daniel Sprong was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch the previous two games. Laviolette said he wanted to see better effort from Sprong defensively.
“We want to see a real strong player on both sides of the puck,” Laviolette said Thursday morning. “We know he can shoot the puck and he is able to score the goal. We want to see a 200-foot player going both ways offensively and defensively.”
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Sprong and Laviolette had a long conversation after Washington’s skate Wednesday morning in Florida. Sprong said he wanted to keep the specifics of the conversation under wraps but acknowledged that his 200-foot game was a point of emphasis.
Schultz off IR
Justin Schultz was activated off injured reserve Thursday afternoon after missing the previous three games with an upper-body injury.
Schultz didn’t elaborate on the specifics of his injury, but he took a hard hit that forced him to leave the game in the Capitals’ 6-3 win against Montreal on Nov. 24. Dennis Cholowski took Schultz’s place the past three games.
“There’s such a nice chemistry, so it’s good to get him back in there,” Laviolette said.
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