Dallas Stars 4, Caps 3 (shootout)
It’s been a long time since I’ve had to write the final score that way after a game at Verizon Center. The Caps had won 13 in a row at home and were one shy of tying the longest NHL streak since the 1975-76 season. Alas, no dice on Monday night. Washington gave up a two-goal lead early in the third period, admirably fought back to tie the score on Alex Ovechkin’s second goal of the night, but ultimately fell in a shootout.
Bruce Boudreau was more perturbed about the penalty kill than the play of rookie goalie Semyon Varlamov, who is after all still working his way back into form after two months off with knee and groin injuries. Varlamov finished with 23 saves. But Dallas scored on both its power-play chances. Since returning from the Olympic break the Caps have killed just seven of 11 penalties. You take just two penalties in a game and outshoot the opposition 42-16 through two periods you need to win that game.
Unless of course, you have an absurd lead in your division (31 points) and your conference (13 points). Then “need” becomes a quaint notion. Dallas had to win tonight. It is still four points behind Detroit for the final Western Conference playoff berth even with the win and has just 17 games left. The Caps would have liked to win tonight. I mean, they scratched an 18-goal scorer in Tomas Fleischmann to rest him. The right move, I think, and something we’ll see more of. But it just demonstrates the different mindset between the two teams.
Boudreau pointed out afterwards that Dallas had to feel good about its chances after the second. To be outplayed yet still be down just two was actually a moral victory and the Stars came out charging.
“There was nothing but optimism in this locker room.,” said Dallas goalie Marty Turco, who finished with 49 saves on 52 shots. “A two-goal game in the third period, I don’t care who you’re playing, you’re going to have a chance. We had our chances in the first couple [periods]. We thought we deserved some power plays and we got those early and we converted. That was a huge lift for our bench to get out there and get some chances to show a little bit of emotion scoring goals. The guys played a heck of a third period.”
And yet still the Caps gave themselves a chance to win. They were buzzing in overtime after Ovechkin’s second goal and Varlamov made several stops in the shootout before Loui Eriksson finally beat him in round No. 5 for the win. It was a nice night for No. 8 after going six games and over 400 minutes without a goal. Not that he necessarily saw it that way.
“It’s not ‘finally.’ I was just happy [because] I didn’t score six games here. Sometimes you just need lucky goal, some lucky bounce to put it in.”
Caps Notes
» Washington will practice at 11:30 a.m. at Kettler Iceplex on Tuesday morning.
» Alex Ovechkin fired 10 shots on goal, giving him 307 on the season. He is the only active player with five years of 300 shots or more.
» The 19 first-period shots for Washington matched a season-high. They also set a season high with 52 shots overall. The previous mark was 49 against the Anaheim Ducks at Verizon Center on Jan. 27. The franchise record is 55.
» Ovechkin, Hall-of-Fame forward Mike Gartner and forward Dennis Maruk are the only Caps players with consecutive 80-point seasons. Nicklas Backstrom – with two assists against Dallas – is just one shy of joining that group.
» The Caps are 4-4 in games decided by a shootout this season.
» Ovechkin is up to 44 goals on the season – tied again with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby for the NHL lead.
» Matt Bradley’s assist on Tom Poti’s goal gives him 20 points on the season, two shy of his career high.
Notable Quotable
Bruce Boudreau on star forward Alex Ovechkin’s relief at breaking his six-game goal drought.
“You could see it. He looked up at the sky and he had been frustrated the past few games. I told him this morning ‘You just have to work harder.’ I thought he was in a mode where he was waiting for the play to come to him instead of going out and creating the play. But you saw in his first two or three shifts in the game he was going out and hitting guys and he had his energy back. When he has his energy he is what he is: the best player in the world.”
