Caps Can't Close Out Knights

Shea Theodore's goal at 1:35 of overtime sent the Capitals to a 3-2 defeat in the extra session on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena. Theodore's goal - off a silky feed from Jack Eichel - gave Vegas its fifth straight victory in the opener of its five-game road trip, while Washington dropped its second game beyond the 60th minute in as many nights.

In dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to the Hurricanes in Carolina on Monday night, Washington had to kill a penalty late in regulation and another in overtime, so it could feel somewhat fortunate to get out of the building with that single point.
Although Washington got stellar netminding on both nights - from Darcy Kuemper on Monday and Charlie Lindgren on Tuesday - Tuesday's scenario was different in that the Caps twice took a one-goal lead, and they held the second one for a period and a half, playing an excellent second frame to get to the room with a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
But in the third, the Caps weren't assertive enough in closing out the contest. Vegas came out with an expected push, and Washington wasn't able to muster sufficient offensive zone time or chances of its own to take the starch out of the Golden Knights' drive. While the Caps were able to exit their end and get pucks into Vegas ice, they were almost all short shifts, one and done or none and done in the attack zone, and then right back to defending.
"I didn't like the way we played the third period," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I understand the circumstances, I understand the situation, but it doesn't mean that you have to like the way we played the third. I thought that we sat back, we left too many holes and we gave up a half a dozen chances. We didn't generate much and so therefore we're playing defense and we run the risk at pucks coming at our net."
Ultimately, Vegas was able to hang around long enough to get a bounce on the equalizer when William Carrier jumped off the Golden Knights' bench and into a soft spot in the middle of the ice, and his shot ramped off a stick and past Lindgren with 5:56 left.
"I think there's things we could have done better on that goal," says Laviolette. "But they had a couple of looks where they got somebody to the middle of the ice or a fourth man to the middle of the ice, and there were just too many chances in the third period. Not enough press, and too many chances against."
Making his first home start with the Caps, Lindgren answered his first big test of the night with flourish, thwarting Jonathan Marchessault with his blocker on a back door bid from point blank range about two minutes into the first period.
"I'm certainly noticing that guy," says Lindgren of that save. "He's coming out of the corner of my eyes. I certainly see him, so it's definitely a read and react play."
It was the first of several strong stops for Lindgren, and the Caps soon grabbed an early lead themselves.
Facing one of the League's most prolific first-period teams in the early going of 2022-23, the Caps got an early jump up on Vegas when Aliaksei Protas drew an early slashing call on Vegas winger Brett Howden. Washington drew first blood on its first power play, taking a 1-0 lead when Marcus Johansson scored from the slot after taking a feed from Dylan Strome behind the Vegas net. Johansson's goal staked the Caps to a 1-0 lead at 3:39.
As the Caps did early in the frame, Vegas also made good on its first power play opportunity of the evening. With 1:05 left in the first, Eichel squared the score with a wrist shot from the right circle, and it was a 1-1 game after 20 minutes of play.
The Caps regained the lead early in the second. Strome won a left dot draw back to Trevor van Riemsdyk at the left point, and the latter crept up and fired a well-placed shot to the short side on Knights goalie Logan Thompson. Van Riemsdyk's shot from just above the circles made it 2-1 at 1:01 of the middle period, three ticks after Strome won the face-off.
Lindgren shrugged off a high shot from Alex Pietrangelo off the rush in the middle of the second and also made a sublime stop on Michael Amadio late in frame to enable the Caps to nurse the one-goal lead to the second intermission.
Washington seemed unable to regain the momentum and the offensive zone presence it had in the second. Lindgren again denied Marchessault - this time from the slot - during a stretch of 4-on-4 hockey early in the third, and he came up with a big save on Mark Stone soon after the Carrier goal, ensuring that the Caps would at least get the one point.
Washington was held without a shot on net for more than 11 and a half minutes in the middle of the third, a span that included Carrier's tying tally.
"They made a push," says Johansson. "I think we played good for the most part, but we can't stop playing for that. Against good teams, there might be stretches like that. They had some looks at the end, and they got one eventually. I think Chuckie played unbelievable for us in net."
Overtime was quick; it ended on the first shot. Eichel circled the zone with the puck, waiting for Theodore to make his move, and once he achieved some separation, Eichel sauced it to him, and the defenseman flipped it home from in tight, his second game-winner in overtime in the Knights' last two games against the Caps. Theodore scored in overtime at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas back on April 20 of this year to give the Knights a 4-3 win over Washington in the extra session.
"Tonight, I don't think either team was on top of their game with execution," says Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. "Obviously, Washington had a tough schedule. For whatever reason, we fly in and this morning we weren't crisp, and we weren't crisp tonight.
"But we stayed in the game this time, so good for our guys. You could see a little bit of frustration on both sides. I think both teams were not making plays they're accustomed to [making]. But we get a big goal from [Carrier] We win a puck on a forecheck there and it gave us some life."
Notes - For the second time in three games, the Caps lost personnel in the first period and had to play with a short bench the rest of the way. Washington lost T.J. Oshie (lower body, out indefinitely) and John Carlson (lower body, day-to-day) on Saturday in Nashville, and they lost Beck Malenstyn after he laid out to block a Nicolas Hague shot just after the midpoint of the first period of Tuesday's game. Malenstyn left the game with an upper body injury and did not return.
"It's tough, losing Mal like that in the game," says Laviolette. "He was playing so well. He's young, he's speedy, he has physicality, he was a really good fit on that line, so to take him out, again we're moving through the bench. Especially with playing last night, and taxing guys in overtime last night and now you're filling spots again, so it's not ideal. But it's tough to lose him in the game because he plays his role well, and when you take that out of the lineup, you're missing that piece."