Playing their final game of the month of March on Monday night against the Carolina Hurricanes at Capital One Arena, the Caps weren't able to sustain the momentum generated in their 9-2-1 start to the month. Washington started slowly and wasn't able to climb back into the contest, suffering a 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Canes.
Canes Drub Caps, 6-1
Caps can't rebound from slow start or maintain their March momentum in lopsided loss
The Caps got out to an inauspicious start in Monday's contest against the Canes, falling down by a pair of goals in the first eight minutes of the opening period. Washington started to claw its way back into the game early in the middle period, but it ended up doubling its deficit from two to four goals in the process.
"I thought the second period, we came out with all the right intentions," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "We started to push, started to fight, started winning some battles and making an impact in the game, and it was unfortunate the way the next two goals played out; a shorthanded and then a 4-on-4 goal on a missed coverage. You're doing the right things and you bring it to 2-1, and then it gets away from you again and it's 4-1."
Carolina's first goal came at 2:41 of the first, when Washington's exit pass was off the mark, enabling the Canes to quickly transition from their own line. Derek Stepan carried back into the Caps' zone, feeding Max Domi on his left. An apparent give-and-go became a bit of a broken play, but it worked out well for the Canes when Stepan swept Jesperi Kotkaniemi's blunted feed past Vitek Vanecek for a 1-0 lead.
The Canes doubled their advantage at 7:47 when the Caps failed to exit and Carolina's Martin Necas completed a tic-tac-toe passing sequence down low, making it 2-0.
In the front half of the second, the Caps got one of those goals back seconds after a Washington power play expired. Dmitry Orlov fired a shot from the slot, only to have it blocked in front. But Tom Wilson collected the loose change in front and buried it, cutting the Carolina lead to 2-1 at 6:47 of the second.
A mere four seconds after the Wilson goal, the Caps went right back on the power play with an opportunity to pull even. Instead, things went swiftly in a southerly direction for the home team.
Carolina's Sebastian Aho scored a shorthanded goal on the ensuing Washington power play to restore the Canes' two-goal cushion, going wide around Marcus Johansson - the lone man back for the Caps - and tucking a shot home at 8:35.
Aho's goal was a dagger for the Caps. Instead of Washington potentially pulling even on the man advantage, Carolina was able to get its multi-goal lead back, something it never had in the previous three meetings between the two teams this season.
From there, the rout was on. Just over two minutes later, Brett Pesce found a soft spot in the Caps' defense and scored a 4-on-4 goal, converting a Teuvo Teravainen from the half-wall to the top of the paint at 10:38, making it 4-1.
Necas netted his second of the game at 15:39, scoring from the high slot off a good setup from Domi, and sending Washington to the second intermission in a four-goal ditch. Vanecek's night ended at this point, after he was dented for five goals on 23 shots in 40 minutes on the clock.
"It seemed like one of those games where all their Grade A's were just going in," says Washington winger Conor Sheary. "We didn't hate our second period, but they scored three goals and we came in down 5-1.
"I think we pushed. We had a slow start; we probably weren't ready for the first couple of shifts. But after that, we played probably 20 minutes of good hockey and we just couldn't get anything going. It was an unfortunate game against a division opponent, but we'll move past it."
Ilya Samsonov came on in relief to start the third and gave up the final Carolina goal, a left point shot from Brady Skjei that bounded off a body and past Samsonov to account for the 6-1 final at 9:57 of the final frame.
"We were fine," says Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We got the pucks to go in. In a lot of our losses, the pucks just haven't gone in. We played solid, got good goaltending when we needed it, and like I said, we capitalized on our chances tonight."
