RECAP: Blackhawks Fall to Capitals in D.C.

The Blackhawks couldn't continue their new-found road mojo on Saturday night, falling behind to the Washington Capitals early in an eventual 4-1 loss in the nation's capital. 

Washington raced out to an early lead scoring three goals in a span of 6:35 in the opening period. Tyler Johnson scored Chicago's lone goal in the loss, tipping home a Jarred Tinordi point shot midway through the third period. But already in a 4-0 hole at that point, the deficit was too large to overcome in the game's final 10 minutes. Petr Mrazek started in goal and made 22 saves in the loss.

QUICK HITS

• Nikita Zaitsev returned to the Blackhawks lineup on Saturday night after missing 19 games with a right knee injury. The blueliner logged 16:56 of ice time and 2 shots in his return. 
• Tyler Johnson netted his 13th goal of the season, his most in a year since the 2019-20 campaign as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning (14). 
• The Blackhawks coaching staff successfully overturned a Capitals goal late in the first period, challenging a play for being offsides, and winning said challenge, to keep it a 3-0 game at the time. Chicago is now 13-for-14 in coaches challenges under head coach Luke Richardson, per NBC Sports Chicago's Charlie Roumeliotis.
• Seth Jones led all skaters in the game in shots on goal (5) and led all Blackhawks in time on ice (24:39), falling nine seconds shy of John Carlson's 24:48 for the leading ice time across both teams.  

THEY SAID IT

• "I didn't think we were really physically and mentally into that game early, and it showed and we got behind. I think at the end of the (first) period, we we picked our game up and we created a power play opportunity, and that definitely had some life, gave us a little bit of life. But I thought just the one break in the second period, we can't turn pucks over in the neutral zone like that. We needed to change, even if it's icing, and we gotta get that puck through the neutral zone and that that fourth goal really hurt. We tried to push in the third period was probably our best, but it's a 4-0 nothing lead, so the other team plays differently." - Head coach Luke Richardson on loss in Washington. 
• "When you spot a team three goals -- you could say maybe they let up a little bit or whatnot but we just had some careless dumb mistakes in that first period that, even in the second on that other goal, that just really bit us the ass. You just got to really take care of the puck, take care of our turnovers, take care of playing defense first and doing that for a full 60 (minutes)." - Tyler Johnson on team falling behind early in Washington. 
• "It was pretty good, like physically, but my head was a little bit out of the game conditions in the first period. Felt much better in the second on the third, so overall it was pretty good." - Nikita Zaitsev on his return to the lineup after injury.

GAME LINKS

• Game Summary
• Full Box Score
• Highlights

WHAT'S NEXT

The Blackhawks return home to host the Arizona Coyotes at the Untied Center on Sunday evening.

POSTGAME VIDEO