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Capitals vs. Stars Recap: Third-Period Comeback Falls Short, Caps Lose 3-2

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It’s seemingly always a rough ride for the Caps whenever they host the Dallas Stars – regardless of where each team has been in the standings at the time. Going back to their first visit to the District way back in April of 1994 (their first year as a Dallas team), the Stars have won all but four of their games against the Caps in the “friendly” confines of DC, with the Caps going 4-10-1-3 in 18 tries overall.

…but that’s the past. What about the present? Well, it started on a sour note with news that both Trevor van Riemsdyk and Nic Dowd would be out of the lineup, with TvR hitting injured reserve – this with T.J. Oshie already missing from the injury he suffered Thursday night in Columbus. The lone bright spot when it came to lineup news was the return of Lars Eller from his Vancouver seclusion.

Unfortunately, despite a third-period rally, the Caps were unable to overcome the combination of those lineup losses, a potential comedown from an emotional win on Friday, a weird start time on a Sunday, and the Dallas-ness of the opponent – and dropped their first in regulation in three weeks.

Here’s Sunday evening’s Plus/Minus:

Plus: Seeing Braden Holtby again.

Minus: The absence of van Riemsdyk and Dowd from the team’s penalty killers (with Carl Hagelin already out) was noticeable, as was the absence of TvR from the blueline. Food for thought with the trade deadline looming.

And now, this absolute gut punch:

A few more notes on this evening’s game:

Oh and by the way that goal just marks Ovechkin’s 40th of the season, and first against Jake Oettinger. We’ll let @CapitalsPR take it from here

You’re welcome, Dallas.

So the Caps give it their best shot but aren’t able to overcome some early sloppiness, and as a result fail to grab at least a point for the first time since their regulation loss to Toronto to close out February. With the trade deadline less than 24 hours away, it’ll be interesting to see if this was the last game of the season with this particular lineup – and what the team might look like on Tuesday.

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