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The Washington Capitals lost just their second game in regulation when scoring first and second game in regulation when leading after two periods this season as the Minnesota Wild escaped snowy Washington with a 2-1 win.
Here are Thursday night’s plus/minus:
- Plus: Salute to the Military. The Caps hosted their 13th Salute to the Military Night, honoring the men and women serving in the armed forces. It might have been a better night with a win.
- Minus: The third period. The Caps, who took a 1-0 lead into the third period, went into a shell, and it cost them, as the Wild domintated the third period and scored twice in a span of 5:09 to erase the lead and earn the win.
Ten more notes on the game:
- Alex Ovechkin missed his first game of the season with a lower body injury, and his absence was evident in the general lack of offensive pressure.
- The Wild out-attempted the Caps 19-12 in the first 14:28 of the third period and out-scored the Caps, 2-0. There was the game right there.
- It might not have come down to that 14 minutes of the third period had either of Marcus Johansson’s two missed shots behaved a bit differently. Both hit iron, caroming out instead of in. For good measure, Johansson had a point blank shot on Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk in the third period that Dubnyk gloved away to frustrate Johansson and the Caps.
- Curtis Glencross recorded his first goal and first point with the Caps with a well-placed shot over Dubnyk’s left shoulder from the right wing circle on the rush. Glencross had three shots on goal, tied for the team lead.
- Those two goals for Jason Pominville in the third period made for his first multi-goal game this season for the Wild.
- It was the first time since November 22nd that the Caps lost at home when allowing two or fewer goals. The opponent in that instance was the Caps’ next opponent, the Buffalo Sabres.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov broke a nine-game streak without a point with his assist on the Glencross goal.
- Only three Caps finished this game without recording a hit – Joel Ward, Andre Burakovsky, and Marcus Johansson. The Caps out-hit the Wild, 33-21.
- Brooks Orpik played a grinding sort of game in a grinding sort of game. He led all players for both teams in hits (7) and blocked shots (5).
- Braden Holtby had been 26-4-4 when allowing two or fewer goals in regulation or overtime before this game.
And now, this…
Game highlights: