No luck of the Irish as Capitals fall to Blues

The Washington Capitals fell 5-2 to the St. Louis Blues on St. Patrick’s Day at Capital One Arena.

Sammy Blais struck first for the visitors at 1:54 of the first period. The Caps lead in shots 11-7 after one.

Jordan Kyrou doubled it at 4:51. Kasperi Kapanen made it 3-0 at 9:25. Blais added his second goal of the game at 14:36 in the second period. 4-0 was the score after two with the Blues leading in shots 11-10.

The Caps got two back in the third but it wasn’t enough. Martin Fehervary scored his sixth goal of the season at 5:47. It was assisted by Alex Alexeyev and Sonny Milano. Nicklas Backstrom added his fifth of the season at 17:14 on the power play with Alex Ovechkin and Rasmus Sandin providing the helpers.

Brayden Schenn put the game away with an empty net goal. The Caps led in shots 13-4 in the third period and 34-22 overall. Darcy Kuemper made 17 saves on 21 shots he faced. The Caps held a practice today before heading to Minnesota. Kuemper left the ice early and appeared hurt.

Peter Laviolette, who is in the final year of his contract and may very likely not be back as head coach next season, said this after the game:

“We’ve got to better job, just from a mental and physical preparation at the start of the game. We’ve got to be more ready than that. Coming off that Buffalo game and carrying that juice, we were certainly hoping for a better start.”

The Caps now basically have to win out if they want to keep their season alive. Conor Sheary added:

“We have no wiggle room, if any, right now. So the fact that we weren’t able to come out and be ready for this one and try and move up the standings, is unfortunate. At this point we’ve got to get rolling. If we don’t, it’s going to end quickly for us.”

The Caps take on the Minnesota Wild tomorrow afternoon on the road. There are 12 games left in the season. The Caps are five points behind the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins.