The Washington Capitals were thoroughly out-played by the Seattle Kraken on Thursday — they were out-attempted at 5v5, 63-30 — but managed to hold on just long enough to force overtime.
It was there that the Capitals lost in seven seconds. I’m going to write that out to highlight just how fast that is. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Matty Beniers scored on a breakaway, giving the Kraken their seventh straight victory. For the Capitals, it was a frustrating end after an encouraging start where they scored the game’s first two goals.
The goal came after Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette opted to ice Lars Eller, TJ Oshie, and John Carlson — three talented and accomplished two-way players who at this point in their careers aren’t as fleet of foot as they used to be — for the opening faceoff. Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol, who had the last change, responded with Matty Beniers, Andre Burakovsky, and Vince Dunn.
The drop of the puck saw the biscuit go backward off Eller’s left skate. Beniers then tied up Eller with his stick. Eller went to one knee to lob the puck back to John Carlson, but that’s where things turned from sketchy to catastrophic. Andre Burakovsky had already pushed up on the defenseman and deflected the puck out of mid-air into open ice (as Carlson stopped to try and glove the puck out of the air). Burakovsky bumped into his former bestie, springing Beniers on a breakaway.
As Eller tried to backcheck, he was taken out by Carlson as he tried to hook Beniers down. The rookie forward then beat Capitals goaltender Darcy Kuemper cleanly through the five-hole for the W.
#1️⃣0️⃣ for #1️⃣0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/j2SPymFgKM
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) December 2, 2022
“Hey, hey, whaddya say? Matty Beniers!” an excited John Forslund called.
With the loss, the Capitals fell to 1-4 in games decided after regulation. They are now 10-11-4 overall on the season.
