POSTGAME NOTEBOOK: Jets 4, Caps 1

The Best Laid Plans - Playing two games in as many nights is hard enough in the NHL, but Wednesday night's back half of a set of back-to-backs was more difficult than normal for Washington as it suffered a 3-1 loss to the Jets in Winnipeg. The Capitals were without three key performers for most or all of Wednesday's game, and another stalwart's status is in down as the Caps move on to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

The Caps' coaching staff went with backup goalie Pheonix Copley in the front end of the back-to-back games on Tuesday against the Wild in Minnesota, and Copley and his teammates delivered a 5-2 win over the Wild.
In the wake of that win over the Wild, Caps coach Todd Reirden was asked how that performance set his team up for the following night in Winnipeg.
"Hopefully we can - from a strategy standpoint - manage the game a little bit better than we've done in our past back-to-backs," replied Reirden, "but certainly it's great to have Braden fresh and going into that game in a real good spot. He got some work done [on Monday] with our goalie coach, and I feel like he is prepared to have a strong game for us [Wednesday]. We're going to need him."
Alas, that's not at all how it went down.

Washington did not conduct a formal morning skate on Wednesday, as is customary for the second game of back-to-backs, but Holtby went to the rink on Wednesday morning to get some work in as he typically likes to do on game days. But the goaltender suffered an upper body injury on Wednesday morning, one that would not only keep him from starting against the Jets, but also from backing up Copley.
That meant the Caps had to press an emergency goaltender into service for warm-ups and for the game itself. Gavin McHale, a local amateur, stepped in on short notice to fill the bill, sporting sweater No. 41. If that wasn't enough adversity for the Caps, top four defenseman Michal Kempny missed Wednesday's game because of illness.
Things got worse for Washington midway through the first period when top line pivot Evgeny Kuznetsov took a hit to the head from Jets forward Brandon Tanev. Kuznetsov departed soon afterward, and did not return.
All those things considered, it was an impressive feat for the Caps to go into the third period even at 1-1 with the Jets. Washington had some chances to go ahead late but couldn't convert, and ultimately lost on Ben Chiarot's goal with 7:09 left in regulation.
"That's the way it goes," shrugs Reirden of the sudden wave of misfortune. "That's hockey, and that's being able to react to potential adversity that you have. I was happy with the effort level from our guys, and some of them have some heightened minutes for sure, and responsibility. We are talking about missing one of the top players in the game in Kuznetsov with a blow to the head, so we've got to make certain on that. and then at the end of the game we lose [T.J.] Oshie for a little bit, too."

The Oshie injury occurred late in the game, with Copley pulled for an extra attacker. Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey body-slammed Oshie to the ice, a play that was extremely similar to one that happened in a Florida-Vancouver game last month. In that incident, Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson incurred a two-game league suspension for body-slamming Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson to the ice.
"Just tangled up and something that I think the league is going to look at," says Reirden of the Morrissey incident. "It's similar to a situation that happened in Vancouver earlier in the year, but a vulnerable player that is thrown to the ice.
"That's difficult because we had possession six-on-five and we thought we were making a push a couple of times at the end of the game there to be able to get the equalizer and then basically played five-on-five there for a while. But we will see, and check in on T.J. I have not talked to our trainer tonight since the end of the game, so I'm not sure exactly where things stand with him."

First Strike - Jakub Vrana scored Washington's lone goal of the game with seven minutes left in the first period. The goal was Vrana's fifth of the season, and four of them have been scored in the first period.
Furthermore, Vrana has now scored Washington's first goal of the game on four separate occasions this season, and he has netted the game's first goal three times.
By The Numbers - John Carlson led the Caps with 28:35 in ice time … Alex Ovechkin led the Caps with nine shots on net, 16 shot attempts and three hits … Dmitry Orlov led the Caps with five blocked shots … Nic Dowd won six of eight face-offs (75%).