Canes Prevail Over Caps, 3-2

Tuesday started and ended in tough fashion for the Capitals. After learning they'd be without captain Alex Ovechkin for an undetermined period of time while he attends to a family matter pertaining to the health of a loved one just before morning skate, the Caps put forth an admirable effort in a spirited Tuesday night tilt against Carolina, frontrunners in the Metro Division standings. But in the end the Caps couldn't catch a break or the Canes, falling 3-2 at Capital One Arena.

Twice the Caps answered back to pull even soon after a Carolina goal, and midway through the third period, it briefly appeared as though they had pulled even once again, until Carolina issued a successful coach's challenge that wiped Trevor van Riemsdyk's would-be tying goal off the board because of goaltender interference.
It was a call the van Riemsdyk and Caps coach Peter Laviolette disagreed with, and it resulted in Washington's seventh loss in its last 10 home games (3-5-2).
With Canes goaltender Frederik Andersen on his seat in the crease, van Riemsdyk pounced on and buried a loose puck at 9:39 of the third, ostensibly tying the game at 3-3. T.J. Oshie entered the paint in pursuit of the puck just prior to van Riemsdyk's shot, and officials agreed with the Canes' contention that Oshie interfered with Andersen, who was already prone when Oshie arrived.
The principals and both coaches had varying viewpoints of the event that ultimately determined the game's outcome.
"I only saw it briefly," recounts van Riemsdyk. "I just felt like [Andersen] was already on his butt, and he didn't know where the puck was, so I thought maybe that would be a goal. Unfortunately, my opinion doesn't matter."
"The disallowed goal, that's the way she goes," shrugs Oshie. "Wish I would have been able to get off [Andersen] a little bit; I felt like there was no room behind me to really move once I got down there, so it was just kind of unfortunate."
"There's a loose puck in the crease," says Laviolette. "We had two players in the crease. I think T.J. is the one with his stick on it. To me, he's got a scoring opportunity and he gets tripped from behind, but he doesn't fall on the goalie. The goalie goes down on his own and the puck squirts out quick, and T.J. maybe was on his blocker for less than one second because he got tripped as he was going in for the rebound. And it popped up the other side, and [van Riemsdyk] put it in real quick. And really the only person that was on the goalie was their player in the end. I don't understand it, and so I don't agree with the call."
"it's the rule," says Canes coach Rod Brind'Amour. "On the overhead it's clear [Oshie] goes in by himself. And he takes a crack at the puck but then he lies on the goalie for a split second. By the letter of the law, you're not allowed to do that. So that's why I was pretty sure."
The long arm of the law sided with Brind'Amour and the Canes.
"Video review determined Washington's T.J. Oshie impaired Frederik Andersen's ability to play his position prior to Trevor van Riemsdyk's goal," reads the official email explanation. "According to Rule 69.3, 'If an attacking player initiates contact with a goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed.'" [All emphases from NHL Situation Room.]
Tuesday's loss also took some light off of on an excellent performance from Joe Snively, who was recalled from AHL Hershey to replace Ovechkin on the Washington roster, but wasn't expected to play until just before pregame warmups. In his first NHL game action since Dec. 31, Snively factored on both Washington goals, assisting on Oshie's tally in the first and scoring to tie the game a second time in the second period.
Snively's opportunity to play came about suddenly and just before game time when Aliaksei Protas hustled out of the building to join his wife, who is about to give birth to the couple's first child.
Carolina got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead on a Brent Burns wrist shot from the slot at 15:00 of the first.
Washington managed to pull even in the final minute of the first frame. Canes forward Seth Jarvis inadvertently did the Caps a favor by getting his stick on Dmitry Orlov's breakout pass from just inside the Washington line. When Jarvis swatted the puck out of the air in the neutral zone, it went right to Snively, who quickly gained the zone and fed Oshie for the tying tally at the back door with 57.7 seconds left in the first.
"It was a transition, a 2-on-1, and I had a little less speed on that one, I felt like," says Snively. "Osh did a good job of getting to the back post, and a great finish by him."
Carolina regained its lead early in the second, doing so five seconds after losing a draw in the offensive zone. Dylan Strome won the draw in his own end, but it was Carolina's Stefan Noesen who gained instant possession and put it to Calvin de Haan at the left point. de Haan's shot was headed wide left of the net until it hit Paul Stastny and bounded in for a 2-1 Canes lead at 2:33.
Washington again responded quickly, doing so seconds after a big stop from Kuemper on Jesper Kotkaniemi's power move to the net. From the half wall in his own end, van Riemsdyk fired a long lead feed for Snively at the Carolina line on the opposite side of the ice. From the bottom of the left circle, Snively beat Andersen to draw the Caps even at 6:23.
Later in the second, Noesen netted what would prove to be the game-winning goal on a Carolina power play, tipping home a Brady Skjei point shot at 11:38 of the second period.
"We played hard," says Brind'Amour. "It wasn't a great game by us by any stretch, but in the third period Freddie made a couple of nice saves and we were kind of able to hang on. So we'll take the win and move on."
For the Caps, it was another game in which they played well enough to pick up a couple of points, but they were unable to get that third goal that so often has made the difference between winning and losing for them this season. Washington is 25-2-3 when it scores three or more goals, and it is 3-20-3 when it scores two or fewer.
"I thought we played hard against a real good team, and you don't like the outcome," says Laviolette. "You want to win a hockey game, and we did a lot of good things. But in the end, we came up short."