The Capitals played with fire on Tuesday night allowing 32 shots on goal in the final 40 minutes without giving up a goal to Florida. On Thursday night, they were burned by the Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg scored 2 goals in 12 seconds during the final three minutes of regulation before winning in a shootout 3-2. With the loss, Washington dropped into a tie for first place in the Southeast Division with Florida at 61 points. However, the Panthers hold the first tiebreaker over the Caps in points percentage due to playing one less game. Winnipeg is three points behind with 58.
The Jets looked down and out but came up with a stirring rally thanks to some help from the officials and lady luck. With 4:05 left, Roman Hamrlik was called for slashing and 69 seconds later Brooks Laich was whistled for playing with a broken stick. Laich cleared the puck out of the Capitals’ defensive zone but did not realize his stick was busted at the time. It is a infraction rarely committed or called by referees. The back-to-back penalties gave Winnipeg a two-man advantage.
Then, they pulled their goalie to add an extra player on offense to make it a 6-on-3. After several chances and saves by Tomas Vokoun, the Jets scored on a scramble in front with 2:15 to play. Dustin Byfuglien shot the puck from near the offensive blue line where it hit some players’ legs and stopped a couple of feet from the goal. Evander Kane raced in and poked the rebound high over Vokoun to make it 2-1.
The crowd was irate, they booed loudly toward the officials after the goal. Their reaction turned from vocal anger to stunned silence after the next face-off. Byfuglien collected the puck in his own zone, skated to the center ice face-off circle, and took a long slap shot. It crossed the Capitals blue line, ticked off the stick of Karl Alzner, and bounced by Vokoun to tie the game.
Neither team was able to score in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. In the shootout, each team scored on its first shot, Ovechkin for Washington and Blake Wheeler for Winnipeg. Semin was next for the Capitals, he shot high but Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelic caught it in his glove. Bryan Little followed for Winnipeg looking to make up for his costly penalty early in the 3rd period. He redeemed himself with a well-placed wrist shot between Vokoun’s leg pads and left arm to make it 2-1 Jets after 2 rounds.
With the Capitals shooting first in each round, it was sudden death for Mathieu Perreault. He skated all the way to the top of the goal crease, moved the puck to his back hand, and shot the puck into Pavelic’s pads. Perreault seemed to skate too close to the goalie leaving him no space for an adequate shot. Head coach Dale Hunter’s selection of him was also strange since Perreault had only tried in three other shootouts without scoring.
Washington seemed to have control of what was a scoreless game for two periods. Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin scored power play goals less three minutes apart midway through the third. It appeared as if the Capitals cooled off the Jets. Ovechkin scored at 9:46 whacking a rebound at the side of the goal crease into the net. Semin took a slap shot from the left wing which was blocked by Winnipeg defenseman Ron Hainsey. It deflected behind the net, hit the boards, and caromed straight to Ovechkin.
The Caps played billiards for their first goal but used terrific passing for their second. With Bryan Little off for high sticking, Ovechkin took a pass from Dennis Wideman in the left face-off circle and then rifled the puck across to Semin for an easy tap-in. It was 2-0 with 7:30 remaining but Washington could not score even though they had two more minutes of power play time. Little was penalized four minutes, a double-minor, for cutting a Caps player in the face while trying to make a stick-check.
That was one of many opportunities lost by the Capitals on the night. They outshot Winnipeg 12-4 in the first period but could only muster a 0-0 draw. They led 2-0 with three minutes left in the final period. They scored first in the shootout. It was the most frustrating loss of the season so far in what was the biggest game of the year so far.
The Capitals have changed coaches, switched goalies, mixed up top scoring units, used injuries as a reason for failure but there are no excuses. They are in 2nd place in their division and more importantly in 9th place in the Eastern Conference. The top eight teams in each conference after the 82-game season is finished make the playoffs. The Caps would be out if the season ended at this point. It doesn’t get easier on Sunday when they face the East-leading Rangers in New York.
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