Big Defeat

The Washington Capitals absoluely needed to win this game. They did not. Now when they come out of their all star break and bye week and the calendar turns to February, they'll be much deeper in the hole than they are right now. They have now lost four in a row and got one point in those four games. They're four points back of the Red Wings, who occupy the final wild card spot. They are at home at 8 p.m. against the Vegas Golden Knights after the Wizards beat the Pistons at their arena earlier.

Today the Capitals fell 5-4 to the Dallas Stars, a good team out west, thanks to Thomas Harley's second goal of the afternoon. That was the winner in overtime at 3:26.

Anthony Mantha put the Caps up 1-0 early on with his 15th goal of the season at 9:40. Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson had the assists. Wyatt Johnston tied it at 10:44. Thomas Harley gave the Stars the lead at 11:07.

Rasmus Sandin tied it at 2 with his first goal of the season. Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Trevor van Riemsdyk had the assists. Mason Marchment gave Dallas the lead right back 3-2 at the 11 minute mark of the second period. His goal came on the power play.

At 2:24 in the third it was Matt Duchene to make it 4-2. Alex Ovechkin would make it a one goal deficit with a power play goal with two mintues to go in the game. It was his ninth goal of the season and the 831st of his career, putting him 63 goals away from Wayne Gretzky.

Dylan Strome tied it at four in the McNugget Minute at 19:17 with Mantha and Ovechkin assisting. It was Strome's team leading 19th goal of the season. Harley won it in OT.

Now the players get to enjoy their time with their families while Tom Wilson joins his family in Toronto next weekend for the All Star Game.