Last night did not go the Washington Capitals’ way, and the 5-3 final score in Minnesota made the game seem much closer than it actually was. Playing the Colorado Avalanche on the second night of a back-to-back is far from ideal, let alone playing them in Denver. Let’s see how this goes…
Plus: The Capitals weren’t shut out! Big ups to Dylan Strome, who finally got the puck past Alexandar Georgiev at 7:26 of the third for his 17th goal of the season. But wait, there’s more! He scored another goal with 2:23 to go, off a sick pass from Tom Wilson.
Minus: Nathan MacKinnon’s natural hat trick in the second period, while awesome from a hockey point of view, was tough to watch for Caps fans. Then he tacked on a fourth goal in the third period, just for fun.
Key Moment: Cale Makar’s first period goal was the second shorthanded tally the Capitals have given up in the last three games. It came off a brutal turnover from Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Makar had all the time and space in the world to fire a laser past Charlie Lindgren. The first period was a pretty solid road period for the Caps, so this was precisely the last way they wanted to head into first intermission. It took all the wind out of their sails, and they returned for the second looking pretty deflated.
Capitals Player of the Game: Congratulations to Dylan Strome, who played in his 400th NHL game tonight! That milestone moment plus scoring the only Capitals’ goals in Denver earns you this prestigious honor.
Final Thoughts: The Capitals came into tonight looking to snap a three-game losing streak on the road…against one of the best teams on home ice this season (18-5-0). Spoiler alert: the Caps did not snap that losing streak! They went down early, and they couldn’t claw their way back. The Capitals have 12 comeback wins this season, but they couldn’t make it 13 tonight.
Before the Caps left for St. Louis, Coach Carbery said this final stretch before the All-Star Game was critical for Washington’s season. The first three games of this road trip have been, to put it mildly, bad for the Capitals. Including tonight, they have fallen behind 3-0, 3-0, and 4-0 and have been outscored 14-5. Yikes!
Up next for the Capitals: a matchup with the Dallas Stars on Saturday at 2pm ET, the last game of this road trip and their last game before the All-Star Break.