Caps Drop Third Straight, a 2-1 SO/Loss to Lightning

Two good teams bearing losing streaks hooked up on Saturday night in Tampa, knowing that one of those teams would end its slide. That team turned out to be the Lightning, which eked out a 2-1 shootout win over Washington. The loss was the Capitals' third in succession, but they did earn a point to avoid their first regulation losing streak since February of 2015.

With the win, the Lightning ended a four-game losing streak in which it had surrendered at least four goals in each loss.

"Obviously, it's better than nothing," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom, who scored Washington's only goal of the game. "We wanted two points, but I thought we did a good job in the third period. We battled back and we tied the game, and I thought we had more opportunities to score there in the third. Our third period was strong. We had the opportunity, but we couldn't do it. That's how it is in this league. All the teams are good and all the teams want to win. We've just got to regroup here and look for it next game."

After a scoreless first frame, the Lightning took a 1-0 lead on Nikita Kucherov's power-play goal at 12:38 of the second period. Kucherov took a feed from Viktor Hedman and ripped a shot past Caps goalie Braden Holtby from just above the right circle to give the Lightning the lead.

Heading into the third period, both teams had three power play chances, but Kucherov and the Bolts made good on the third of their chances. Washington kept digging, and the Caps were able get another extra-man opportunity early in the third when Tampa Bay's Braydon Coburn hi-sticked John Carlson.

With Marcus Johansson providing a perfect screen in front of Lightning netminder Ben Bishop, Backstrom slipped a wrist shot behind Bishop to knot the game at 1-1 at 6:24 of the third.

"It was huge," says Backstrom of Johansson's screen. "The first two power plays there, there wasn't anything down low and their [defense] was giving me the shot. So, why not?"

When Washington pivot Jay Beagle drew a hooking call on Andrej Sustr midway through the final period, it gave the Caps a chance to take a lead in a game for the first time in more than a week. But the Caps weren't able to make good on that opportunity, and they also failed on an abbreviated gift power play in the waning seconds of overtime.

The Lightning were guilty of too many men on the ice with 33.5 seconds left in the extra session, giving the Caps a four-on-three power play for that span. Washington exercised its timeout to talk things over, and Backstrom won the ensuing offensive zone draw. The Caps, who have a pair of four-on-three power-play goals this season, moved the puck around for more than 20 seconds before Carlson let a shot fly. Bishop made the save with 7.1 seconds left, and a last-second bid from Justin Williams missed after Backstrom won another draw in the Tampa Bay end.

"First of all, we're trying the face-off play," says Backstrom, queried on the Caps' strategy in that situation. "I think when there's 33 seconds left and it's a 1-1 game, you've got to try to shoot the puck a little more than we did. Justin [Williams] was in front of the net, and good things can happen when you get shots. It doesn't need to be a slapshot, but we need more shots there when there's only 33 seconds left."

Washington has not owned a lead since it finished off a 3-1 won over the Buffalo Sabres at Verizon Center on Nov. 25, the Capitals' last win before the current skid started. The Caps have scored a grand total of three goals during the life of their three-game losing run, and Backstrom has two of them.

Having gone into the third period down a goal on the road against a good and desperate opponent, the Caps have to be pleased that they picked up a point. But they can't be pleased with the fact that they are now without an even strength goal in more than six periods, and they can't be too happy with slipping into a tie for fourth place with Philadelphia in the Metropolitan Division standings. The Caps have three games in hand on the Flyers.

"I think there was two very desperate teams that both played quite well," says Caps coach Barry Trotz. "Both goaltenders were really good. Our power play scored a huge goal when we needed it, and I thought the guys played with pace. We can clean up some things - there's no question - they're a very good team and they're very talented. But I thought both teams played with a lot of desperation and it was a fast game. It was more of the style of what you're going to see because the Metropolitan Division and the [Eastern Conference] is pretty tough this year. There are going to be a lot of those type of games; it's going to be a test for everybody.

"From my standpoint, we'll take a good point on the road. Obviously we're disappointed in not getting two, but the effort and the mindset was correct. We've just got to go forward. We'll go back home and we've got to nip this in the bud a little bit, get a win and get our confidence going a little bit, too. When you're not winning, it doesn't do anything for your confidence."

Although the Caps avoided consecutive regulation losses for the entirety of the 2015-16 regular season, they did lose three straight from April 2-7, taking a shutout loss at the hands of the Coyotes in Arizona and then dropping consecutive 4-3 overtime decisions on home ice to the Islanders and Penguins, respectively.

When they host the Buffalo Sabres at Verizon Center on Monday night, the Caps will be looking to elude their first four-game losing streak since an 0-3-1 run from Jan. 16-27, 2015.
Point Taken - Owning a two-game regulation losing streak for just the second time in a span of their last 117 regulation games, the Capitals spent Saturday night in Tampa taking on a Lightning team that was saddled with a four-game losing streak of its own. While the Caps were able to avoid their first three-game regulation slide since February of 2015, they suffered a 2-1 shootout loss to the Lightning.

The Caps have lost three straight games now, and they've dropped four straight on the road for the first time since an 0-3-2 road slide in January of 2015.

Is this what you'd call a "good" point? That depends on whom you talk to.

"Not so great," responded Justin Williams, asked how he felt about the Capitals pulling a point from Saturday's loss. "I want to win to win every game. I'm not happy about tying it. I feel we should win every game we play. One point is one point, but two is the goal."

Caps coach Barry Trotz saw it somewhat differently.

"From my standpoint, we'll take a good point on the road," says the Caps coach. "Obviously we're disappointed in not getting two, but the effort and the mindset was correct."

Nicklas Backstrom, who scored the Caps' lone goal in the game said getting the loser's point was "better than nothing."

That's for sure.

When you've lost your last couple games and your last three on the road, and you're on the road against a good team, and you enter the third period of that game down a goal, and you haven't scored a goal in more than 100 minutes, and the standings in your division are starting to tighten like a vise, then yes, I'd say it's a good point.

The New York Rangers, the Penguins and the Blue Jackets each picked up two points on Saturday. Those are the three teams immediately ahead of Washington in the Metropolitan Division standings. Both Philadelphia and New Jersey also picked up a pair of points on Saturday. Those are the two teams that were immediately behind the Caps in the standings going into Saturday's action.

The Flyers are now even with the Caps (although Philly has played three more games than Washington) and New Jersey is just a point behind. Six Metropolitan Division teams have at last 28 points on the season, and the Capitals have 29 after Saturday night's shootout loss. There are four teams with 28 or more points in the Atlantic Division, three in the Pacific and just two in the Central.

There's a long, long way to go. But it's sure looking like the Metro race could be quite the wild ride this season. It's also worth noting that after forging a 37-14-9 record against Metro foes in Trotz's first two seasons behind the bench (including 20-5-5 last season), the Caps have won only two of their first eight games (2-4-2) against divisional opponents this season.

To me, it's a good point. But for the Caps, who are a very pedestrian 5-5-2 in their last dozen games, it's also time to start picking up a pair on a more regular basis.

Dry Gulch - Washington scored just one goal in Saturday's game, the 12th time in 23 games this season the Capitals have scored two or fewer goals. The Caps are 11-0 when they score three or more goals. They're 2-7-3 when they score two or fewer.

The Capitals have scored three or more goals only three times in their last 10 games (4-4-2), and nearly a third (seven of 22) of all the goals they've scored in those 10 games came in one night, a 7-1 whipping of the Penguins at Verizon Center on Nov. 16.

Top Heavy - Most of what little offense the Caps do produce continues to come from the same players. The Caps have scored three goals in their last three games, and Backstrom has two of those while Marcus Johansson has the other.

Alex Ovechkin leads the Caps with 12 goals while Johansson has nine, T.J. Oshie (who's currently week-to-week with an upper body injury suffered on Nov. 18) has eight and Backstrom has seven. Those four players have combined to score 36 of Washington's total of 58 goals (62%) goals on the season. At least one of those four players has scored in 17 of the Caps' 23 games this season.

Among the rest of the Caps, Jay Beagle is the only other player with as many as four goals.

Down On The Farm - The AHL Hershey Bears were home at Giant Center on Saturday night, hosting the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Like the parent Capitals, the Bears were down a goal in the third, and managed to tie the game on a power play to force overtime. But also like the Capitals, the Bears had to settle for a single point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Phantoms.

Chris Bourque scored the Bears' first goal of the game at 17:20 of the second, getting help from Chandler Stephenson and Christian Djoos in tying the game at 1-1 at that juncture. Lehigh Valley retook the lead at 2-1 early in the third, and Travis Boyd tied it on a Hershey power play with 5:01 remaining in regulation. Bourque and Djoos drew assists on the game-tying tally.

Jordan Weal won it for Lehigh Valley at 2:51 of the extra session, beating Bears goalie Vitek Vanecek (25 saves).

The 12-4-4-1 Bears finish off a busy weekend of three games in as many nights on Sunday when they host the Syracuse Crunch at Giant Center.

Down a level, the ECHL South Carolina Stingrays won a 3-1 road decision from the Swamp Rabbits in Greenville on Saturday night.

Rob Flick, Kelly Zajac and Patrick Gaul scored for the Stingrays in support of Adam Carlson's 20-save efforts in the South Carolina nets. Carlson raised his record to 3-4 on the season.

By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 27:25 in ice time, the highest single-game total for a Washington skater this season. He also paced the Caps with six shots on net and 11 shot attempts … Ovechkin and Matt Niskanen led the Capitals with three hits each.