After losing to the Stars the night before, the Washington Capitals experienced plane problems and were forced to spend an unexpected night in Dallas, Texas. The squad arrived in Chicago, Illinois, where they would end their back-to-back, about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, seven hours before the puck drop against the Blackhawks. They played their third game in four nights.
Despite travel issues, the Capitals seized an early 2-0 lead against the Blackhawks in the first period, with highlight-reel goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Andrew Mangiapane, who missed the night before due to illness. But that was all the Capitals could muster as they faded down the stretch, giving up three unanswered goals to the Blackhawks. Their 3-2 setback was only the second time they had lost successive games this season.
After the game, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery stated, “We should be able to overcome the travel issue.”
Against a Chicago squad with only 10 victories in its first 31 games, the Capitals struggled to produce offence at five-on-five against the Blackhawks’ towering defencemen. Washington attempted only 18 shots in the first 40 minutes, including a ghastly 6 in the second quarter.
“I think even with the lead we had two really really good individual plays and the rest was kind of just sloppy,” according to John Carlson. I didn’t believe we played particularly well during the game. We felt fragmented and disoriented. “We were not our usual selves.”
That nasty second period also saw the Capitals commit two too many men penalties, the second of which occurred as the club killed off the first two-minute minor.
“You hope that they’re hard-working, good penalties, or saving [a goal], not too many men,” Carlson claimed.
However, for Carbery, those two mental errors were merely a small portion of the buffet of misery.
“I mean you could point to a tonne of different things,” Carbery laughed. “You can walk through the film and find 50 different things that aren’t excellent.
“You’re always hopeful that you’re gonna find a way especially when you build the lead, but right from the start of that game, the score to me doesn’t really matter because you’re trying to get to your game and you’re trying to figure (that) out and it just never never came.”
Ryan Donato, the Capitals’ best goal scorer, scored the game-winner for the Blackhawks, which exemplified their lack of intensity. The forward was first to a loose puck in the corner, drove hard to the net, and beat Logan Thompson to the far post, sending Blackhawks supporters into a frenzy.
The Capitals will now have two days off before facing the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Friday night. They hope to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season.
“I just didn’t think we had it from the start of the game right to the finish,” Carbery stated afterwards. “We had nothing.”
Leave a Reply