Washington has lost four of six games The Capitals began the year with seven consecutive wins, but the players refused to get too excited. That is such a tiny sample of an 82-game season and, as goalie Tomas Vokoun has said, things can turn against you in a hurry in the NHL.
And they have indeed turned in recent days against Washington, which played perhaps its worst game of the season Tuesday night at Verizon Center — a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.
The Stars broke open a 2-2 game with three goals in the first 8 minutes, 5 seconds of the third period and stifled the Caps from there. Michael Ryder scored a pair of goals for Dallas, which also received a 30-save performance from goalie Kari Lehtonen. Alexander Semin and John Carlson both scored for Washington, which fell to 9-4 thanks to its second loss in a row and fourth in six games. So did they get too comfortable after that 7-0 start to the season?
“Well, if it’s a comfort thing the comfort will change [Wednesday at practice],” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said.
Dallas might be the surprise of the NHL early in the season. The Stars (11-3-0) have the most points of any team in the Western Conference (22). But Washington’s players refused to use that as an excuse. Boudreau and defenseman John Erskine both said their team was outworked. Star winger Alex Ovechkin lamented the goal by Dallas forward Adam Burish just 24 seconds into the third period to snap a 2-2 tie. Jamie Benn and Eric Nystrom added tallies 32 seconds apart later in the period to effectively end the contest.
“Maybe through the first five games I felt top to bottom it was a better commitment,” Caps veteran forward Mike Knuble said. “Of late, I don’t know if we’re all committed. It’s sad to say and we all look bad because of the result. We look great when we’re all committed. We all look like a bunch of clowns when we don’t. Very average team when we’re not all committed.”
That’s eerily reminiscent of Knuble’s comments after a disheartening Feb. 12 loss to the Los Angeles Kings at home last season. Washington eventually pulled out of that particular tailspin — just as it did during an eight-game losing streak last December. But it’s disconcerting to hear them again after everything the Caps went through in 2010-11 before surging in the final two months to finish atop the Eastern Conference. And Knuble wasn’t finished.
“They’re not scoring ugly goals either. They’re snapping it around, back-door play, goalie not even in the net,” Knuble said. “They make you look bad. It’s embarrassing when you’re on the ice and guys are beating you. … Just playing like a bunch of losers. You’re going to lose if you play like that. You’re going to lose every night in this league — let alone talking about playoffs. You’ll lose every night in the league. And I think we all went through that last year.”
