WASHINGTON, DC — The Washington Capitals gave up five power play opportunities in their 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils, but one call in particular stuck out. Just 28 seconds into the third period, Nic Dowd took his second minor penalty of the night after the Devils’ Nico Hischier drew a high-sticking call.
Head coach Spencer Carbery wasn’t pleased with the officials’ decision on the play, arguing that Hischier jerked his head back but wasn’t hit by Dowd’s stick.
“[The referee] just missed it,” Carbery said postgame. “It’s hard. The head snaps are a real issue in our league right now. They’re trying to figure out how they clamp down on it. They don’t want to have to go to review and see if a guy embellished.
“And so it’s a tough call, but it obviously wasn’t a stick. So it was like, hands up in the face, I think it was Hischier that goes like this (snaps head back). So now [referee South Furman goes] ‘Was that a stick?’ So he guesses on that, thinking something went down there and he just missed it.”
Dowd, for his part, declined to comment on the play but noted he did not receive an explanation for the call.
“Nope,” he said with a chuckle. “Just going to leave it at that.”
After giving up two power-play goals in the first 40 minutes — including one after Dowd took a hooking call in the first period — the Caps held back the Devils after the high-sticking call. They ended the night 3-5 on the penalty kill, though Connor McMichael scored a power play goal of his own later in the third period.
“New Jersey’s just not a team that you want to give four or five power plays to,” Charlie Lindgren said postgame. “They’re just — they’re too good. We talked about it before the game…I mean, that’s one of those things. Some of the calls maybe would have been a little iffy, but it’s what it is. That’s hockey.“
