Caps Fall to Hawks in OT, 5-4

Nicklas Backstrom returned to the Washington lineup after a 28-game absence at the start of the season, and he helped Alex Ovechkin made history again. But a rugged minute in the middle of the second period put the Caps in a hole, and though they managed to pull a point in thrilling fashion, they ended up on the short end of a 5-4 overtime decision at night's end.

Caleb Jones' first goal as a Blackhawk came at 1:21 of overtime, lifting the Hawks to victory soon after Conor Sheary's goal tied the game at 4-4, giving Washington a point and forcing overtime. Jones pounced on an unsecured rebound of a Kirby Dach shot, backhanding it in at the far post before Dmitry Orlov could sweep it from harm's way.
The usually disciplined Caps were whistled for a season-high six minor penalties on the night, the most they have taken in a game all season, and one more than they had taken in the previous five games combined. The Hawks took full advantage, scoring three of their five goals on the power play.
"We'll look back on it, and there were probably a couple of different areas that weren't what we needed," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "There was a spot of four or five minutes where the game just kind of flipped, and they got the lead 3-1. But I thought our guys pressed the entire night. There was a lot of good things we did, but we didn't get it done."
After a quiet first period with no scoring (but a pair of Chicago power plays) on either side, the Caps and Hawks combined for five goals in the middle frame. Washington's two goals bookended a trio of Chicago tallies in a span of just 34 seconds, the first two of which came on the man advantage.
First, Ovechkin made some history on a Washington power play early in the second. With Jonathan Toews in the box for an offensive-zone hooking call, Backstrom carried the puck into Chicago ice and handed it off to T.J. Oshie high on the right side of the Hawks' zone. Oshie then fed Ovechkin, who swept a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury from the inside of the left circle for a 1-0 Washington lead at 3:36.
The goal was the 274th power-play goal of Ovechkin's career, and it tied him with Dave Andreychuk for the top spot on the NHL's all-time list for extra-man tallies. It was only fitting that Backstrom picked up a helper on the goal, his first point of the season.
"That's just the way it works," smiled Backstrom through his mask after the game.
After killing off two Hawks power plays in the first, the Caps were tasked with a third penalty killing mission shortly after the midpoint of the middle frame. They were 17 seconds shy of killing that one when Nic Dowd was boxed for tripping, giving Chicago a brief 5-on-3.
The Hawks won the ensuing offensive-zone draw and tied the game on an Alex DeBrincat goal in which all five Hawks touched the puck, snapping it around efficiently and scoring just seven seconds after Dowd was seated, and leaving Chicago 1:53 of power play time with which to work. The Hawks only needed 18 seconds of that time, taking a 2-1 lead on Philipp Kurashev's first goal of the season at 14:13.
And just 16 seconds after Kurashev's power-play goal off the rush gave Chicago the lead, MacKenzie Entwistle tacked on an insurance tally at 14:29.
In the final minute of the period, the Caps pulled to within one of their hosts, making it 3-2 with a forechecking goal. Lars Eller and Daniel Sprong worked together behind the Chicago net, forcing a turnover. Eller gave the puck to Sprong, who carried around the right side of the cage, turned and fired a laser of a shot from the right circle, beating Fleury high to the glove side to make it a 3-2 game with 41.3 seconds remaining in the second.
Washington had the better of the 5-on-5 play throughout the game, and Eller tied it up at 11:57 of the third on the rush, scoring on a backhander as he left his feet, converting a feed from Oshie to make it a 3-3 contest.
Less than two minutes later, Oshie was sent off for tripping Toews along the half-wall in Washington ice. The normally even-keeled Oshie protested loudly, a clear indication that he thought he was wronged.
With exactly five minutes left, the Hawks regained the lead when DeBrincat netted his second of the night, a weak-side one-timer from the left circle.
The Caps got goaltender Ilya Samsonov off for an extra attacker with just under two minutes left and they managed to get a couple of decent opportunities, but when the Hawks cleared it the length of the ice with about 20 seconds left, it didn't look good for Washington. But the Caps got possession and started moving north.
Oshie carried into Chicago ice down the right side and lost control in the corner, but the Caps got it back and pushed it to John Carlson at the right point. Carlson's shot was blocked, but Ovechkin recovered it and fed Sheary in the slot. He didn't get much on the shot, and that's what enabled the puck to squeak through Fleury's five-hole with exactly three seconds remaining.
In overtime, the Caps had some early possession, but Chicago won in when Dach opted to shoot on a 2-on-1 rush and Jones got to the rebound first.
"I'd say it was a good game," says Oshie. "They had a couple of swings, so maybe 50 minutes of our game tonight was pretty solid. It wasn't enough to get us the win tonight. I'm obviously thankful we got the point, but we have something to learn from tonight. When we have a breakdown or a penalty and they pop one, we've got to grab things a little bit quicker."