Capitals night to honor John Carlson gets spoiled by Senators

The Washington Capitals had a 2-1 lead in the thrid period but in the end came away with one point instead of two in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators to put their playoff hopes on life support.

The Buffalo Sabres did the Caps zero favors as the Detroit Red Wings took care of them easily earlier in the afternoon.

Before the game the team honored John Carlson with an emotional ceremony as the defenseman achieved the 1,000 game milestone. Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin are the only three Caps to have played in 1,000 career games all with the team.

The Caps pulled out all the stops just like the T.J. Oshie ceremony two weeks prior. Backstrom was back for the ceremony all suited up. Along with Oshie, who didn't play due to an upper body injury. Fans got comemorative t shirts to celebrate and Carlson and his beautiful family got gifts left and right from his teammates and the NHL.

Max Pacioretty put the good guys up 1-0 off a feed from Hendrix Lapierre at 4:43. The crowd was buzzing already. The Nats and Defenders won earlier in the day in the city. It was up to the Caps to complete the city trifecta. It was Patches fourth of the season.

In the second that exctiment and buzz turned to nerves. Mark Krastelic tied it at 5:40 before Aliaksei Protas put the Caps in front at 17:10. Trevor van Riemsdyk and Martin Fehervary had the assists there and it was Protas sixth of the season.

At 12:49 in the thrid Ridly Greig tied it. Caps couldn't get anything going offensively. It cost them dearly in the 3 on 3 skills challenge as Jake Sanderson ended it 41 seconds into overtime. No DC Sports trifecta or joy in Mudville.

"Too many turnovers, too many mistakes that we shouldn't be making, giving teams more life than they deserve or need," Carlson said to the media.

The man of the night is correct. This game hardly had any shots as the Caps led in that department 22-21. Both teams came up empty on the power play so this was a defensive battle to the end.

The Caps had 21 shots blocked and were outhit 39-24. They also gave the puck away six times. In the end it all added up to their sixth loss in a row with five games left to play.