Capitals end Ducks win streak at 11

ANAHEIM -- Nicklas Backstrom scored the deciding goal in the shootout, and the Washington Capitals ended the Anaheim Ducks' team-record 11-game win streak with a 2-1 victory at Honda Center on Monday.
"Tonight was a high-paced game. It felt a lot like playoff hockey," said Capitals forward T.J. Oshie, who scored in the first round of the shootout. "They come at you a couple different ways; they're fast, they're big. Goaltending was great tonight on both sides. It was a good battle."

Anaheim (37-19-9) has at least one point in 14 straight games (12-0-2), the second-longest streak in its history.
"It's stressful winning every game because you try so hard to keep that thing going that it fatigues you out," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "These were two teams playing chess out there."
Anaheim was called for too many men on the ice with 1:40 left in overtime, but the Washington power play was cut short 24 seconds later when Oshie was whistled for closing his hand on the puck.
Jakob Silfverberg and Corey Perry each had a strong chance in the extra period, but Capitals goalie Braden Holtby kicked Silfverberg's shot away and Perry's slap shot missed wide. Perry scored the Ducks' only goal in the shootout.

Holtby made 27 saves for Washington (49-13-4).
"I thought he made some really key saves," Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. "He made a huge save to keep it 1-0 instead of down two at the end of the first period. I thought he came out in the second fine and great in the third. I thought he got better as the game went on."
Ryan Getzlaf scored on a slap shot through traffic one minute into the game to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. It was Getzlaf's 10th goal of the season; he has at least one point in 20 of the past 24 games.
Despite quality chances for each team in the second period, Anaheim's 1-0 lead held until 41 seconds into the third whenAndre Burakovsky tied it.Justin Williams dropped the puck to Evgeny Kuznetsov, who sent a cross-ice pass to Burakovsky for a shot that beat Anaheim goalie John Gibson from the edge of the left circle.
"We were in shock in the first 30 seconds of the game, but then we sort of settled down," Trotz said. "That's sort of our team; we don't get too rattled."

Washington's best chance to take the lead in regulation came with a little more than a minute left in the third period when Mike Richards intercepted Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler's errant cross-ice pass and cut through the slot all alone, but Gibson was able to make the save.
Gibson made 31 saves in his first loss in five games.
"He was spectacular, there's no doubt," Boudreau said. "Our goaltending has been spectacular for a while now. He had a really good game."
The Ducks failed to score a power-play goal for the first time in 12 games. They were 19-for-42 (45.2 percent) with the man-advantage during their winning streak.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, whose 41 goals lead the NHL, didn't have a shot on goal for more than 40 minutes, with his first coming at 3:21 of the third period. He had three more in the next 2:31 and another in overtime.
Anaheim's third line of Andrew Cogliano, Ryan Kesler and Silfverberg effectively limited Ovechkin's impact.
"It was the Kesler line," Boudreau said. "They still made some nice plays, and you could still see the skill and the danger every time he had the puck, but I thought we did a nice job against him."
Although Boudreau wasn't necessarily happy with Anaheim's level of execution, the Ducks were pleased with how they matched up against the Capitals, who are first in the NHL standings with 102 points.
"We go to a shootout and it's a flip of a coin," defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. "We played against -- in my opinion, and a lot of people's opinion -- the best team of the East. We matched up well against them. You're not going to win every game, but we played well tonight."