Caps Come Up Empty vs. Vegas, 1-0

For the first time this season, the Caps drew a blank on Monday night. Vegas goaltender Robin Lehner stopped all 34 Washington shots to hand the Caps their first shutout setback of the season, 1-0 to the Golden Knights. The whitewash is Lehner's first of the season, and the second of his career against the Capitals.

Michael Amadio's goal on a rebound of a point shot at 5:29 of the second period was the only goal of the game. The Caps had a lengthy 5-on-3 opportunity soon after the Amadio marker, but Lehner stopped all three shots during that man advantage, and he made eight of his 34 stops while Washington was a man to the good.
"He played really well," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette of Lehner. "He stopped all of them, so he played really well. Give him credit. Guys were pushing, they were firing. We couldn't get one to go."
Neither team was able to light the lamp in the game's first 20 minutes, and both sides had one power play opportunity in what was a fairly even first frame. Washington's best look of the period was Nic Dowd's backhander from in tight early in the first, a shot on which Lehner waited out the Washington center, held his ground and made the save.
Vegas gave Lehner all the offense he would need on this night just ahead of the first television timeout in the middle period. Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek blockered down Brett Howden's shot from the left point, but the rebound dropped right at the top of the paint, and Amadio quickly potted it to lift the visitors to a 1-0 lead at 5:29 of the second.
Less than a minute later, the Caps had a golden opportunity to generate some offense when they went on a 5-on-3 for 1:57. Washington teed up seven shot tries during that lengthy two-man advantage; three were on net, three missed the mark, and one was blocked.
Soon after the midpoint of the frame, Vanecek made an excellent stop on Evgenii Dadonov to keep the deficit at one. The Caps killed off a pair of Vegas power plays in the second, and they started the third period with 1:46 worth of power play time, but again weren't able to find the back of the net. One of their best opportunities of the game came in the final seconds of that man advantage, but Dmitry Orlov's shot from the slot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar.
The Caps had a fifth extra-man opportunity minutes later, but they ended the night 0-for-5 on the power play and are now 3-for-28 (10.7 percent) with the extra man in their last 10 games.
Washington's penalty killing outfit was a perfect 4-for-4 on the night, executing a big kill late in the third when the Caps were assessed a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Just after that kill, Lehner made an excellent stop on Conor Sheary's shot from the left side off the rush, preserving the slim Vegas lead.
"It was a quick play," recounts Sheary. "I tried to beat him low glove. He kind of stayed standing a little bit; he didn't go down in the butterfly and he's a big goalie. So when he sees it and he fronts it, it's hard to beat him. He made a good save."
The Caps had one more excellent look late when Vanecek was pulled for an extra attacker. Alex Ovechkin made a sublime cross-ice feed to tee up Evgeny Kuznetsov for a one-timer from the right dot, but Kuznetsov's stick snapped in half and the shot died at his feet, aptly illustrating the night and the Caps' month of January in a microcosm.
"Throughout a 60-minute game, there's probably chances that should go in the net no matter who's playing goalie," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson. "But give credit where credit's due, he played well. We started to fire pucks at him, but he stopped them. But we've just got to do a better job of maybe executing a little better to beat him."
Since winning their final two games of calendar 2021, the Caps have been unable to string together consecutive victories, and they're now 3-5-2 for the month.
"I think we're all mentioning not to get frustrated," says Laviolette. "I think you get frustrated when you're not doing the right things, and defensively you're letting up 25 chances and offensively you're only creating 10 chances. That's when you get frustrated and angry, and I think it's important to stay positive.
"We were trying to work out of this month; we're still trying to work out of this month and get back to at least .500. That's kind of the plan that we have inside the room. So tonight's a little bit of a setback, but there's still a chance to get out of it and not have it be a losing month.
"So we've got some work to do in a couple of games here, but I think we're trying not to get frustrated. Everybody hates losing. Nobody likes the scoreboard and the way it looks right now, and that's what's lousy about it. But I think if the guys continue to work and to do the right things, eventually they'll get rewarded."