The Washington Capitals fell in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 after playing a sensational game from start until almost the finish.
The Canucks capitalized on a brutal turnover by Connor McMichael with 4.8 seconds remaining in overtime. JT Miller intercepted McMichael’s pass intended for John Carlson and snapped the puck past Darcy Kuemper to the far side of the net for a sudden victory.
JONATHAN❗️ TANNER❗️ MILLER❗️ pic.twitter.com/Oire1qiIgS
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) February 11, 2024
“You can’t make that play in that situation,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said after the game. “You’ve got to make sure you look after the puck there.”
McMichael was not made available to reporters after the game.
Earlier in overtime, McMichael was stopped on a breakaway and hit the iron on a second opportunity. For his solid play, he was rewarded by Carbery to be out on the ice for the Capitals’ final shift of the extra session along with the team’s leading goal-scorer, Dylan Strome, and the team’s best defenseman, John Carlson.
After an Elias Pettersson shot from the slot was blocked by Carlson, McMichael recovered the puck with 8.6 seconds remaining in overtime. Instead of eating the puck in the defensive zone or making a safer play along the boards, the 2023 Calder Cup champion center tried to spring Carlson in the middle of the ice for one last opportunity. McMichael tried a no-look backhanded pass, but it was behind the Capitals defenseman, going straight to Miller instead, who buried it.
“Knowing that there’s not much time on the clock, we’re trying to make a play that didn’t work out,” Darcy Kuemper, the team’s losing goaltender on the night, said after the game. “Guys are trying to go out and win the game. Obviously, it didn’t go our way and turned into the goal against. Guys have the right intention there and not going to fault anyone for trying to win.”
McMichael seemed to feel the weight of the moment immediately. He looked skyward before lifting his stick and resting it on his right shoulder in clear frustration. According to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, several players gave McMichael a pat in the locker room to show him support.
“Yeah, as teammates, they’ll probably play the largest role in that,” Carbery said. “I’ll probably talk to him when we get back in here on Tuesday. But I mean, it’s just — he’ll learn from it. That’s the bottom line. I don’t need to tell him anything he doesn’t know.”
The 23-year-old McMichael, in his second full season with the Capitals and after a very short offseason due to the Bears’ Calder Cup victory, has been one of the team’s best players this season, but his production has slowed since mid-December. McMichael has four points in his last 23 games (1g, 3a) after posting 13 (6g, 7a) in his previous 26. McMichael has also been used as one of the team’s primary penalty killers.
He has also played the fourth-most overtime minutes (12:55) of any Capitals forward this season. With him on the ice during those minutes, the team has out-attempted their opposition 11-10 and outshot them 6-5. Sunday’s loss was the first time he has been on the ice for an overtime goal against.
“All of us realize how we have to play,” Alex Ovechkin said. “You can see we make, again, turnovers, and they score the goals. Obviously, when you play against good teams it’s going to cost you.”
With the loss in overtime, the Capitals got three out of a possible four points against the two current best teams in the league, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks.
“I thought we played well,” Nic Dowd said. “That’s a good hockey team, too. We’re not going to score three, four goals a night. 2-2 game in overtime. Our overtime I thought was good and then whatever, shit happens.”
The team will look to rebound Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche.
