Thursday's loss was the Caps' second in succession, marking the first time in a month they've lost two straight. Washington lost in similar fashion on Monday afternoon, surrendering five unanswered goals to the Nashville Predators in a 6-3 home ice loss.
Two games shy of the midpoint of their 2018-19 schedule, the Capitals haven't lost as many as three straight games at any point this season. They'll need a win over the Stars on Friday to keep that run alive.
"We've been playing pretty good hockey up until the last five periods or so," says Caps defenseman Matt Niskanen. "So let's jump right back on the horse [Friday] and try to play better, and see if we can get a win in Dallas."
Dallas has always been a tough town for the Capitals. Washington has earned consecutive 4-3 overtime victories on its last two visits to Big D, accounting for two of the Caps' total of five wins ever (5-13-0) in 18 visits to Dallas. Last season marked the first time since 1995-96 that the Caps won twice in the same season against Dallas, and just the second time Washington has ever done so in the 13 seasons in which it has faced the Stars twice since the franchise moved south from Minnesota in 1993-94.
"We are playing these teams that are desperate, desperate teams for points and we've got another one [Friday] in Dallas," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "That has been kind of the way it has gone all year, we get every team's best and on the road we've been really good. Up until [Thursday], we had a better road record than home record, and now we're back to right around even.
"So it will be important that we respond as a group [on Friday]. We'll get some different guys in there and a little bit of energy from them hopefully, and we can respond like we'd like to after a tough loss."
