Washington’s 2-0 lead in the first period of Tuesday night’s tilt with the Blackhawks proved to be fool’s gold. Playing for the second time in as many nights, the Caps never looked like themselves at Chicago’s United Center. The Capitals’ penalty kill enabled them to nurse that two-goal lead into the third, but that’s where it fell apart in a 3-2 loss to the Hawks.
Ryan Donato’s individual effort goal with 2:18 remaining in regulation completed the Hawks’ comeback, snapping a 2-2 tie soon after Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom made the save of the game to deny Aliaksei Protas’ bid for the go-ahead goal. The lanky goalie slid to his right and appeared to pin the puck between his skate and the post to deny Protas and preserve the deadlock.
For the Capitals, Tuesday’s game – their 31st game of the season – was the first full 60-minute clunker they’ve turned in this season. They never got to their game, and the Blackhawks hung right in there despite being down two goals early and whiffing on each of the game’s first four power play opportunities.
“I just didn’t think we had it, from the start of the game right until the finish,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “We had nothing.”
P-L Dubois got the Caps on the board early in the first, pushing the puck through Hawks defenseman Louis Crevier near the Chicago line, then beating the blueliner to the biscuit. From the top of the paint, Dubois then pushed it through Soderblom, a shot that just crossed the goal line to put the Caps up 1-0 at 4:16 of the first.
Just over nine minutes later, Andrew Mangiapane – who missed Monday’s game in Dallas because of illness – doubled the Washington lead with a highlight reel goal.
Jakub Vrana and Lars Eller combined to win a puck battle along the half wall in Washington ice, and Eller fed Mangiapane in neutral ice, sending him into Chicago territory in a 1-on-1 situation with veteran defenseman T.J. Brodie. Mangiapane went wide to the right, skirting Brodie with a nifty inside out move, and then cutting straight left to the net. Mangiapane waited for Soderblom to commit, then roofed a wrist shot over him from the left side of the ice at 13:18.
“I didn't think I had too much space there,” recounts Mangiapane, “so I just wanted to take it to the net. And I was able to get middle ice there and be able to put that in. It was definitely nice to get on the scoresheet after missing last night there. But yeah, it's a tough one to lose here.”
That was the high-water mark for Washington on this night.
The middle frame was one of the worst the Caps have played this season, but they managed to escape it unscathed, and still holding their 2-1 lead. Washington went 15 minutes and 38 seconds without registering a shot on net in the second period, largely because it took three minor penalties in a span of 5 minutes and 59 seconds in the middle of the middle frame. The first two of those infractions were bench minors for too many men on the ice; those two came just 2 minutes and 9 seconds apart.
Washington’s penalty kill was up to the task on all four occasions, limiting the Hawks to just four shots in those eight minutes with the extra man. Logan Thompson made a strong stop on Tyler Bertuzzi from the top of the paint on the first of those three Chicago power plays in the second period.
With less than two minutes left in the middle period, the Caps finally had their first offensive zone face-off of the entire game, a remarkable indicator of where most of the game was played. And despite winning 61 percent of the game’s face-offs, the Caps didn’t seem to have the puck very often.
Washington’s first power play of the game came late in the second and was of the carryover variety. And in the carryover portion of that power play, a Caps turnover at the Chicago line sparked Chicago’s comeback. Teuvo Teravainen sent Ilya Mikheyev into Washington ice, where the latter was able to get round Jakob Chychrun and go bar down with a nifty backhand shot, 51 seconds into the third.
The Caps probably played their best stretch of hockey after that goal, spending some time in the offensive zone and holding the Hawks without a shot for several minutes. But soon after a stretch of 4-on-4 hockey ended, Chicago manufactured the equalizer, with Mikheyev and Teravainen combining to set up Brodie – the late guy into the zone on the rush – for the tying tally at 14:07. Brodie beat Thompson on the blocker side with a wrist shot from just above the right circle.
The Hawks kept buzzing, and Donato’s goal came on an extended offensive zone shift. Donato carried the puck from the right wing corner to the cage, then extended his reach and tucked it home from the top of that paint, putting it between Thompson’s pad and the left post to seal the deal for Chicago.
“I think even with the lead we were [lacking],” says Caps defenseman John Carlson. “We had two really, really good individual plays, and the rest was just sloppy. From the whole game outlook, I don’t think we played very well. It seemed like we were a little disjointed, a little disoriented, and we weren’t our usual selves.
“If we play even close to how we [usually] do with a two-goal lead, I think the game is a lot different. But we didn’t, and then you leave yourself susceptible for stuff to happen.”
