This article is from the source 'washpo' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/capitals/capitals-finally-start-fast-but-cant-sustain-it-in-3-2-loss-to-blackhawks/2016/02/28/553c9aca-de57-11e5-9c36-e1902f6b6571_story.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Capitals finally start fast, but can’t sustain it in 3-2 loss to Blackhawks Capitals finally start fast, but can’t sustain it in 3-2 loss to Blackhawks
(about 2 hours later)
CHICAGO — Sunday’s game was the reverse of the Washington Capitals’ recent routine. The team has made a habit of starting slow and finishing strong, but in a matchup dubbed as a potential Stanley Cup final preview, with the league’s top two teams on the ice, Washington started well and fizzled at the end against the Chicago Blackhawks. CHICAGO — Nate Schmidt started to pull up as he and Chicago’s Richard Panik raced for a puck crossing the goal line in the Washington zone. The Capitals were expecting an icing call, but a whistle never came.
The Capitals couldn’t build on their best first-period showing in weeks, and the Blackhawks’ three unanswered goals delivered them a 3-2 win. With two Washington players battling Panik for the puck, he was able to kick it out in front of the crease, where Dennis Rasmussen was left all alone as Jay Beagle and Brooks Laich trailed well behind after seemingly anticipating a stoppage. Rasmussen scored, and the goal was the clincher for the Blackhawks in a 3-2 win over the Capitals.
With Washington down, 2-1, in the third period and attempting to tie the game, the Capitals eased up in their own zone, expecting an icing call. It didn’t come, and instead, Dennis Rasmussen scored to give Chicago a two-goal lead. For Washington, it was a game of missed opportunities that was decided by Chicago capitalizing on chances like that one.
Washington got a golden opportunity in the last four minutes of the game. The Blackhawks first got a bench minor for having too many players on the ice. That was shortly followed by an unsportsmanlike penalty, giving the Capitals a two-man advantage. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored with goalie Braden Holtby pulled, getting Washington within one goal of tying it with 3 minutes 21 seconds left. But the Capitals couldn’t complete the comeback. “I think the refs makes a couple of bad calls and they use it,” Alex Ovechkin said.
With a brunch-time puck drop, the Capitals got off to one of their best starts since the all-star break. First periods had been haunting Washington, as the team had given up the first goal in seven straight games and 14 of its past 17. It was a point of frustration, something regularly brought up in the locker room. “Tough night for the linesmen tonight, I’ll tell you,” Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said.
Capitals Coach Barry Trotz said he cared more about how the Capitals played than if they allowed the first goal, as with the fluky nature of hockey, a goal doesn’t always correlate with good play. On Sunday, Washington got both. The Capitals came out physically, tallying 21 hits in the first period while also possessing the puck for most of it. Beagle said he and Laich weren’t easing up on the play, but rather, they were checking the location of Chicago’s defensemen behind them. “We should have hemmed them in there and shut it down right there,” Beagle said.
Washington had a 16-6 shots-on-goal advantage in the first period, spending most of the first 20 minutes in Chicago’s zone. The Capitals were rewarded with an early power play after Andrew Desjardins was called for high-sticking. T.J. Oshie lost his stick on the man-advantage, returning to the bench. Justin Williams hopped on the ice for him, and as he skated into the offensive zone, he fired a slap shot. Goaltender Braden Holtby said “everyone was” expecting an icing whistle.
The shot bounced off goalie Corey Crawford and up, with Marcus Johansson swatting the puck in while it was still in the air. The marked a career-high sixth power-play goal for Johanssson, who welcomed his first child into the world earlier this week. “It’s not an excuse,” Holtby said. “Calls are made like that every game. We have to make sure we’re aware, and obviously, my awareness of that guy in front wasn’t very good. I could’ve played it better.”
The strong start was surprising for a Capitals team that has had plenty of distractions this week. With the trade deadline approaching on Monday at 3 p.m., Washington has been active, acquiring defenseman Mike Weber while also waiving Brooks Laich, a procedural move that didn’t keep Laich from playing for the Capitals on Sunday. Washington also had to place John Carlson on long-term injured reserve after he had an unspecified lower-body procedure and will be out three to four weeks. For Trotz, the trouble started in Washington not being ahead after the first period. The team has made a habit of starting slow, giving up the first goal in seven straight games and 14 of its past 17. It has been a point of frustration, something regularly brought up in the locker room.
One lift the team got was the return of Jay Beagle after he missed 24 games with a broken left hand that required surgery. Beagle played on the fourth line, alongside center Mike Richards and Laich. Trotz said that trio could be like a second third line, and in his first game back, Beagle resumed his penalty-killing duties. Sunday’s start, however, was arguably the Capitals’ best since the all-star break. They came out physically, tallying 21 hits in the first period while also possessing the puck for most of it. Washington had a 16-6 shots-on-goal advantage in the first period.
The Capitals’ early lead didn’t last long, as Patrick Kane scored 31 seconds later after a defensive zone turnover by Williams. In the second period, the Blackhawks made up ground in the possession game, out-shooting Washington, 14-4, and Jonathan Toews capitalized, giving the Blackhawks the lead on a power-play goal with less than two minutes left in the frame. “How we played the first period, I don’t think anytime can hang with us,” Ovechkin said.
The Capitals were rewarded with an early power play after Andrew Desjardins was called for high-sticking. T.J. Oshie lost his stick on the man-advantage, returning to the bench. Justin Williams hopped on the ice for him, and as he skated into the offensive zone he fired a slap shot.
The shot bounced off goalie Corey Crawford and up, with Marcus Johansson swatting the puck in while it was still in the air. The lead was short-lived, as Patrick Kane scored 31 seconds later, capitalizing on a turnover by Williams in the defensive zone. The teams went to first intermission tied at 1.
“Clearly, I didn’t see him,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said of Kane. “Sneaky bugger was hanging out behind me. It looks like we’re heading out of the zone with possession, and then their [defenseman] keeps it in. I don’t know if he saw [Kane] — if he did, that’s a [heck] of a pass — I think he just keep it in and Kane was just sniffing around hoping for that to happen. It’s my responsibility to know where he is.”
Said Trotz: “We should’ve been ahead in that first period, maybe by more than one goal. We could’ve been up a couple of goals.”
Chicago took the lead in the second period with a Jonathan Toews power-play goal, and with Washington trying to tie the game in the third period, Rasmussen’s tally put the Capitals in a two-goal hole from which they couldn’t recover.
The game was dubbed as a potential Stanley Cup finals preview, a matchup between two of the league’s top teams. There’s a lot of time before a potential June meeting, and maybe Sunday’s game was a good step for Washington in fixing its pattern of poor starts. But if the game was a measuring stick, then the Capitals didn’t feel they measured up in the way that matters most to them.
“We played better today as a whole, but losing sucks,” Niskanen said. “I don’t care what anyone says about playing well and taking moral victories. That’s dumb, I hate that. I’d rather win. It sucks today.”