Stars and Sticks
Fansided

Capitals rally comes up short against Vegas

By Michael Marzzacco

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 17: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on February 17, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Capitals 3-2. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 17: T.J. Oshie #77 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck against the Vegas Golden Knights in the first period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on February 17, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Capitals 3-2. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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There may be some concerns with the Washington Capitals with the way they’ve been playing lately. Monday’s result was no different.

Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals returned to the place where they lifted the Stanley Cup. Back then they won in that building when it mattered most.

While this was just a Presidents Day matinee regular season game, the Caps lead on the Metropolitan Division has shrunk and the Pittsburgh Penguins are lurking. The Capitals record has dropped to 37-17-5 with 79 points, just a point ahead of the Penguins. They’ll see each other this Sunday.

Nick Holde got the Golden Knights on the board at 3:43 in the first period while Riley Smith doubled the lead at 17:17. Vegas outshot Washington 15-12 and had a 2-0 lead in hand at the first intermission.

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The Golden Knights added another to go up 3-0 at 14:08 in the second period from Max Pacioretty. That would be the score after 40 with the Caps being outshot once again 8-6.

In the third the Caps finally got on the board and T.J. Oshie came through with two goals in under two minutes for his 23rd and 24th of the season. His first came at 8:47 with a good look from the right face-off circle over the right shoulder of Vegas netminder Marc-Andre Fleury. Dmitry Orlov and Jakub Vrana had the helpers

The Caps got a power play opportunity at 9:31 when Jon Merrill was called for tripping Carl Hagelin. It was their third of the night and this one was the charm with Oshie coming through.

Off a nifty backhanded pass by Vrana, on a play started by John Carlson, Oshie finished another dart from the right face-off circle for his 24th of the season. He was easily the top star of the Capitals in this game and almost helped ignite a comeback.

Todd Reirden told the media after the game (via NHL.com’s Danny Webster):

"“I think we’re able to turn the momentum of the game a little bit with our physicality and eventually we wear the opposition down in the third, which is why we can have some more success. But the mistakes that we’re making to start the game is really putting us behind the eight ball to start with.”"

Unfortunately that was as close as they would get and the Caps finished their three-game west coast trip going 1-2. The third period saw the Caps outshoot the Golden Knights 8-6 and were only outshot 29-27 overall. Braden Holtby made 26 of those saves for an .897 save percentage.

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For Alex Ovechkin, he endures a scoreless drought that has now stretched five games. He had four shots in a total of 21:31.

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