Caps Fall to Canucks, 4-2

Following a solid 60-minute effort in Saturday afternoon's 2-0 win over the Islanders in New York, the Caps were hoping to gain some traction on home ice in Sunday's home game against the Vancouver Canucks, who came to the District reeling from three straight road setbacks to start their five-game trip. But the Caps fell 4-2 to the Canucks, their fifth loss in six games (1-3-2) and their fifth loss in their last six games (1-4-1) at Capital One Arena.

Starting back-to-back games for the first time in his NHL career, Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko made 31 saves to get Vancouver back in the win column in his first career appearance against the Caps.
Each team struck twice on the power play, but the Caps weren't able to manufacture anything at 5-on-5 despite some excellent chances.
"We've had looks the last two games at 5-on-5," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "We haven't done a good job of capitalizing on them. It was fairly tight - there were specialty teams goals each way - and at 5-on-5, we couldn't seem to crack it."
Vancouver got off to a good start in Sunday's matinee affair, putting eight shots on Caps goaltender Ilya Samsonov before the nine-minute mark of the first. But at 8:53, the Canucks put themselves in peril when Tyler Motte sailed the puck over the glass from just inside the Vancouver line, putting the Caps on the power play.
Alex Ovechkin's first two one-timers from his left dot office missed the mark. But with 22 seconds remaining in the man advantage, Justin Schultz teed up Ovechkin for a third try. This one found its way through Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko for a 1-0 Washington lead at 10:31 of the first.

The Caps took some immediate momentum from that successful power play foray, but before the end of the frame, the Canucks were again buzzing the Washington zone. Vancouver put seven shots on Samsonov in less than four minutes to close out the first, a span in which Aliaksei Protas swept a loose puck out of the Caps' crease to prevent a goal, and in which Nic Dowd was sent away for interference with nine seconds left in the first, giving the Canucks a carryover power play.
While still on that power play in the first minute of the second, the Canucks evened the score on Elias Pettersson's shot from the right circle. Just over four minutes later, Pettersson scored again. This time, he scored from below the goal line, banking a backhander off Samsonov and in to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead at 4:48 of the middle stanza.
Demko made two good saves on Daniel Sprong, one late in the first and another early in the second. He also denied Ovechkin twice on the same shift midway through the second, halting him on a 2-on-1 rush from the left side and a 3-on-1 burst from the right side.
Late in the second, the Caps went shorthanded for a second time when Garnet Hathaway was sent off for roughing. Less than a minute later, the Canucks extended their lead to 3-1 when Bo Horvat snapped a shot past Samsonov at 18:50 of the second.
Washington was nearly flawless in the second period on Saturday, but it yielded three or more in the middle frame for the third time in five games in Sunday's loss.
Early in the third, Tom Wilson drew an interference call on Vancouver's Tanner Pearson, and then Wilson scored his second goal in as many days on the ensuing power play. Taking a tee-up feed from Evgeny Kuznetsov, Wilson snapped a shot past Demko from his post in the slot on the power play, pulling the Caps within a goal at 6:22 of the final frame.

The usually disciplined Caps took two more penalties the rest of the way, hampering their comeback chances. Laviolette disagreed with the second of those calls - a bench minor for too many men - and Washington killed them both without incident. But the Caps couldn't come up with the equalizer.
"We have great chances to score," says Ovechkin. "Obviously, we didn't. So we move on."
Vancouver's J.T. Miller scored into an empty net in the final minute to account for the 4-2 final score.
Pettersson has scuffled offensively this season, and he broke a seven-game dry spell with a pair of goals on Sunday afternoon, giving the Canucks their first scoreboard lead of the road trip to date. He now has five goals in four career games against Washington.
"Sometimes it just doesn't go your way," says Pettersson. "Hockey, it's a fast sport. I know what I'm capable of - and of course it's been a very slow start for me. But it's a good win for us today, and I'm very happy with my two goals today."
Demko was originally slated to serve as the backup to ex-Caps goalie Jaroslav Halak on Saturday in Carolina, but he was pressed into service on short notice when Halak landed in COVID-19 protocol. Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau elected to go right back to Demko this afternoon in Washington, and it proved to be a prudent decision.
"The more he plays the better he gets," says Boudreau of Demko. "I really thought he was going to have a good game because he's finally got back into a rhythm. He wasn't supposed to play [Saturday] and when [Halak] came down with it, he had an hour practice at nine in the morning. He was a little fatigued, but he's got great mental toughness for a goaltender."