Recap

Caps Not Sharp in 5-2 Loss

Jason Chimera during warm-ups. (Caps Outsider)

Tuesday’s game against Florida had the makings of a stinker several days earlier. With captain Alex Ovechkin needing to sit out for missing the All Star game, Marcus Johansson injured, and the players having just returned from playing with dolphins, getting squared away to play a hot Panthers team wouldn’t be easy.

With nothing but a lopsided shot differential to show for it while down 4-0 going into the third period, the Capitals showed some signs of life, but still ended up with a 5-2 loss.

“It just really didn’t happen for us tonight,” Justin Williams said. “We weren’t sharp. There’s a reason for that. We hadn’t played. We tried to get ourselves prepared, and that’s our job as professionals to get ready and play these types of games. “

Though the Caps outshot the Panthers, 38-19, the power play was out of sync despite plenty of chances (they finished 0-8). Twice in the first period the Caps had a two-man advantage, which they squandered with a penalties of their own. T.J. Oshie played in Ovechkin’s spot on the power play, but it wasn’t nearly the same.

“It changes the way teams can kill penalties cause they have to respect the shot,” Karl Alzner said of Ovechkin being out of the line-up.

Already down 2-0 going into the second period, goaltender Philipp Grubauer gave up a softie to Vincent Trocheck from a sharp angle, digging the hole even deeper. The save of the game came midway through the second period when a shot went toward the Caps bench and none other than Braden Holtby, playing back-up after participating in the All Star game, caught the puck.

On their 13th shot of the game, the Panthers scored again, as Jonathan Huberdeau scored his second of the game and second power play goal for Florida.

If the Caps didn’t already have enough chances on the PP, they got another a four-minute one late in the second, but skated away down 4-0. The crowd booed.

Then the third period started, and the Caps scored twice, quickly, on goals by Nick Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky.

“We came out with a little bit more energy, but it wasn’t like we flipped the switch or anything. We were creating good chances and pucks just finally went in,” John Carlson said of the third period. “We had effort, we had energy, we created a heck of a lot of chances. Good goaltending, and a little bit of lack of finish on our end. But I think when you look back, it’s not as bad as it seems.”

The Panthers added an empty net goal.

Thursday’s game against the Islanders can’t come soon enough. If they can carry over the momentum from the third period, and get Ovechkin back in the line-up, there’s no reason to think the Caps can’t come back and continue to dominate the NHL.

Ben Sumner

Ben Sumner is the editor of Capitals Outsider. He also works for The Washington Post and contributes there when he gets a scoop.

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