Caps Fall Down Early in 5-1 Loss

Home cooking hasn't been kind to the Caps in recent months and returning to the ice following long lulls in the schedule hasn't been optimal for them, either. Hosting the Minnesota Wild at Capital One Arena after a five-day respite from the rigors of the NHL schedule proved to be problematic for the Caps on Sunday night, as they dropped a 5-1 decision to the visitors.

Joel Eriksson Ek scored twice to pace the Minnesota attack as the Wild rolled out to an early lead and never trailed, putting it on cruise control to take its second road win in as many nights. Sunday's win lifts the Wild to 9-0-1 in its last 10 games.
Along with linemates Jordan Greenway and Marcus Foligno, the Eriksson Ek line combined for three goals and eight points on the night.
"It was good," says Eriksson Ek. "They sit back I think sometimes, and we don't like to sit back. Our line plays our best when we forecheck, when we try to push up the play and control the puck. And of course, it's good when we can help the team to score some goals."
Late-arriving fans were still streaming into the building when the Caps fell behind in the first minute of Sunday's game against the Wild. Minnesota came 200 feet in a matter of seconds to take a 1-0 lead just 36 seconds into the first frame.
From behind his own net, Wild defenseman Alex Goligoski surveyed at length before stepping out and firing a stretch feed toward Greenway in neutral ice. The puck hit Greenway's stick, slowing it up for Eriksson Ek to grab it in stride and skate in on a short-ice semi-breakaway. From the top of the paint, he threaded a shot through Caps goalie Vitek Vanecek for an early 1-0 Minnesota lead.
It took only 61 seconds and another shot for the Wild to double its lead, and once again, Minnesota came 200 feet to do so. From deep in his own zone, Ryan Hartman wheeled the puck around the back of his own net for Jonas Brodin on the opposite side of the sheet. Brodin sent Tyson Jost up the left-wing wall, and once Jost was able to shake Nicklas Backstrom in neutral ice, he gained the zone on a 2-on-1 with Kevin Fiala riding shotgun. Jost called his own number and beat Vanecek to make it 2-0 at 1:37.
The Caps played a decent enough first period, limiting the Wild to just three shots the rest of the way, killing off the lone Minnesota man advantage without incident and spending a fair amount of time in the offensive zone. What they didn't do was score, and they didn't really help themselves in that regard, either.
Washington seemed insistent upon trying to make pretty plays and a series of passes, which were inevitably broken up by Minnesota defenders and/or sticks. The Caps didn't work smart in the offensive zone, and their best chances were a couple of Alex Ovechkin shots in short succession following a face-off win in the Wild end of the ice.
After the early breakdowns that gave the Wild its lead, the Caps didn't give up much, either. Over a span of nearly 23 minutes from the middle of the first to just past the middle of the second period, Minnesota managed a total of three shots on net, only two of which came at even strength and only one of which came from inside 40 feet away.
But the Wild added to its lead immediately after that sequence ended, pumping four shots toward the net in a span of six seconds, with each shot coming from closer in. When Vanecek was unable to safely smother the third of those four shots, Eriksson Ek poked it under his pad and in for a 3-0 Minnesota lead at 13:07 of the second.
Half a minute into the third, Foligno scored from the high slot to make it a 4-0 game.
Washington finally got on the board during a delayed penalty when Ovechkin put a shot toward the net from center point and Garnet Hathaway redirected it past Wild goalie Cam Talbot at 10:28 of the third.
Nicolas Deslauriers bagged an empty-net goal with 2:45 remaining in the third to account for the 5-1 final, the Caps' fourth loss in their last five games at home, and their 10th loss in their last 14 games at Capital One Arena.
"We are a good team," says Caps captain Alex Ovechkin. "It's just momentum. Maybe in our mind something is going to happen. But if we want to have success, we can't play like that. Obviously, we knew it was going to be a very tough game and it's going to be a very good opponent who is going to play against us. Obviously, the leadership group and all of us have to play better."
The Caps' four-game homestand concludes on Wednesday against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
"It wasn't good enough tonight, again," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Obviously the start; they might have been the only two chances we gave up, but they were mistakes there early on, and not the way you want to start the game.
"From that point, in the second and third period we didn't generate enough. We didn't put enough pucks at the net, and we didn't get enough traffic at the net. Defensively, it wasn't quantity, but the ones that we gave up were quality early on, and the one later, too."