Photo: Glenn James

What were your expectations for Saturday’s Caps game? Seriously, I want to know. Two games in as many nights, a deflating loss against the league’s most winning team on night one, a backup goalie in night two facing one of the fastest improving teams– I can think of lots of reasons this one could have gone really badly, but here’s how it really went:

Badly, at first at least. Tyler Seguin scored a power-play goal after Brooks Orpik blew his assignment on Jason Spezza, then Erik Cole got a deflection in front of Justin Peters to make it 2-0 going into intermission.

Spezza converted a three-on-one before the Caps finally woke up. Eric Fehr responded with a goal assisted by Joel Ward, then Andre Burakovsky put a zipper of a shot behind Kari Lehtonen. Alex Ovechkin converted a breakaway to tie the game early in the third period, but then the wheels came off.

Within twenty seconds, Antoine Roussel and Jamie Benn scored– the former with a lucky bounce and a layup, the latter with a rush goal against a slower defense.

Nick Backstrom got a one-timer off a brilliant pass from Alex Ovechkin in the final four minutes to make it a one-goal game. The Caps had some fireworks in the final ticks, but couldn’t hit the back of the net.

Stars beat Caps 5-4.

• Nick Backstrom blocked a shot near the blue line early in the third period. Alex Ovechkin pounced on the puck and blazed down the ice to score another huge goal this weekend. And once again, it wasn’t enough to win the game. Ovi can’t do it all, as this season has reminded us many times.
• That Ovi pass to Backstrom late in the third though? Damn. Ovechkin is– and I think I mean this sincerely– a complete player.
• The Caps weren’t bad overall. They really weren’t. One defensive pair struggled more than the others (you know which) and one forward line was a total mess (you know whose), and though the shot differential looked great for Washington, the Stars got a butt-ton of odd-man rushes, shorthanded attempts, and shots from dangerous areas. The Caps just weren’t good in their own zone this weekend. No excuses.
• Washington’s best shooter: Joel Ward, who set his season high with 7 shots on goal.
• I’m so glad Eric Fehr‘s lower-body injury didn’t keep him out long. I shudder to think what this game would’ve looked like without his quick-response goal in the second period to ignite the scoring.
• Garbutt. Heh.
• Let’s talk about Justin Peters, the Capitals goalie earning peanuts in a backup role who hasn’t seen a start since around Thanksgiving. As a goalie, Peters has surprisingly little control over odd-man rushes or shorthanded attempts or defensive miscues. Peters stopped some of the way-too-many chances allowed by the Caps, but not enough of them. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad goalie. If you think you can judge a goalie by a single game– or even a handful of games, you’re a sucker. Remember: Braden Holtby is the goalie behind one of the worst goalie games in the modern era.
• The Dallas Stars are really good by the way. I picked them as a team to have a great second half last week. Seeing their speed and transition game tonight, I feel pretty secure about that pick.
• After one of his best games of the season, Jason Chimera was back to bad in Dallas. His line got hemmed in their own zone and doubled up in shot attempts, plus Chimera was on the ice for the Cole and Spezza goals. I love the guy, but I don’t see how the erosion in Chimera’s play isn’t screamingly obvious to everyone in the organization.
• Conversely, I really liked Andre Burakovsky‘s action tonight, or at least his enthusiasm to shoot. He got more on goal that Ovechkin, which might be a good thing or it might not.

Joe B suit of the night

The Caps have now lost all but one of the games of they’ve played on the second half of back-to-backs this season. I don’t know if that’s meaningful, but it’s a bummer to me.

It’s not like the Caps were bad tonight– not in the big picture at least. They attacked the Stars more often than they got attacked, but for whatever reason the Stars were much more potent. Was it exhaustion? Lack of speed? Isolated mistakes? I don’t know, and I don’t wanna make excuses.

I don’t hate the way the Caps played this weekend; I just hate the way the games worked out.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Stars