Washington’s remarkable road run died on Monday night in Dallas in a 3-1 loss to the Stars, a setback that halted the Caps’ road winning streak at 10 and ended their point streak at nine straight games (8-0-1). The Caps went more than six weeks without tasting defeat on the road, but the Stars and American Airlines Arena proved to be too much to overcome on his night.
Roope Hintz continued his Caps-killing ways, scoring the first and third Dallas goals of the game. But Lian Bichsel’s point shot that clanked off Rasmus Sandin’s right glove and went into the Washington net late in the second period stands up as the game-winner.
Washington scored the game’s first goal, but it was unable to build upon that lead, despite having the game’s first three power plays, two of which came after Dylan Strome staked his team to a 1-0 lead late in the first.
The Caps nursed that lead past the midpoint of the game, but Dallas struck for a pair of goals in the back half of the second period; Hintz tied it on the Stars’ first power play of the night and Bichsel’s shot found twine just over four minutes later.
Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger entered Monday’s game with four wins in as many career starts against Washington, along with a .950 save pct. and a 1.60 GAA. He improved on those qualitative numbers while running his record to 5-0-0 against the Capitals.
“I thought Oettinger was the big [difference], probably 1A,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “Special teams is probably 1B, and then probably 1C is they get a couple of lucky breaks, but then they capitalize. Like the power-play [goal]; a couple of their top players make a good play and shoot it in the net, and the same thing on the third goal. They turn us over, and obviously have to execute there and shoot it past our goalie.”
For the third straight game, the Caps hooked up in a taut, tight-checking goaltender’s duel. Each team had its share of looks at the opposing net, but both goaltenders were at the top of their respective games.
At even strength, the Caps generated offensive zone time and they had some decent looks and chances. Late in the first, the Nic Dowd line turned in a strong offensive zone shift, setting the table for Strome’s line, which hopped over the boards while the Stars were unable to make a change. Taylor Raddysh slid the puck to Jakob Chychrun at the left point, and Strome was able to deflect Chychrun’s shot past Oettinger for a 1-0 Washington lead at 15:39 of the opening period.
All five Dallas skaters had been on the ice for at least 98 seconds when the red light came on.
The Caps started the second period with a full power play, and they had another just before the midpoint of the middle period, but were unable to build on their lead, going 0-for-3 with three shots on the three extra-man chances to that point of the game.
When Dallas got its first extra-man chance, it needed only 22 seconds and just one shot with which to square the score at 1-1. Hintz finished a tic-tac-toe passing play from the bumper, knotting the game at 13:28.
For much of the game’s first 40 minutes, the Capitals were just a play away from a Grade A scoring chance. They’d get the puck to someone in a good spot in the offensive zone, and that player would see an even better play, but the Caps were rarely ever to make the last play needed to activate that superior scoring chance.
With the game even at 1-1 late in the second, and with Washington’s Brendan Duhaime and Dallas’ Brendan Smith being boxed after a fight just over a minute earlier, the Caps overpassed their way out of a good look at the Dallas net, and a subsequent errant pass came all the way back to the Washington end of the ice.
The Stars got in on the forecheck and won the puck in the left corner, pushing it out to Bichsel at the left point. Bichsel floated a wrist shot toward the net, and it caught Sandin’s right glove and went in at 17:35, giving Dallas its first lead of the night.
In the third, Washington had another power play opportunity with which to pull even, but again, no sale. The Caps were held without a shot on that last extra-man opportunity, and Dallas – which now boasts the League’s best home penalty kill (90.5%) – ended up with more shots on net (four) than the Caps (three) on Washington’s four chances with the extra man.
“Yeah, you can definitely look to the power play tonight,” laments Strome. “We’ve been good for a while, but just not our sharpest night. It hurt us for sure, even in the third, down 2-1 and we get a power play and don’t even get into the zone.”
Late in the third, a turnover behind the Washington net resulted in a quick Jason Robertson pass to the slot and a one-timer from Hintz for the third Dallas goal, at 14:58.
Washington was seeking to be the first Eastern Conference team to win in the Dallas building in over nine months.
“Credit to their top guys for capitalizing in those spots,” says Carbery. “But I liked a lot of the things that we did tonight, especially at 5-on-5.”
On a night when the Caps played without winger Andrew Mangiapane and the Stars skated without top pairing defender Thomas Harley, Dallas coach Pete DeBoer concurred on Carbery’s assessment of the Stars’ “top guys.”
Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell was on the ice for more than half of the game (30:37) and for virtually all (7:58) of Washington’s eight minutes with the extra man.
“We need that – the power play with a goal,” says DeBoer. “You’re down a man, you’re down some guys, you’re shorthanded, you’re playing the best team in the league and the hottest team in the league, so your best players have to be your best players tonight, and I thought ours were. Roope, [Robertson], Otter, Miro [Heiskanen], Lindy – those were, and we needed that tonight.”
