Winning streak can’t keep growing
After 2 victories in a row, Caps fall flat
WASHINGTON — After he had allowed a second goal in a 59-second span against the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon, Washington Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek turned his back and peered toward the empty stands, an official sneaking in to collect the puck.
He eventually glanced at the video board above to see what had happened. Even though he made his 13th straight start Saturday, there is no shortage of moments for the rookie to learn from during some early growing pains.
There were plenty of those in the Capitals’ 4-1 loss at Capital One Arena, a deflating performance that halted what had been a promising week with dominant wins over Pittsburgh and Buffalo that had followed a four-game skid.
Washington coach Peter Laviolette had gathered his team during practice earlier in the week and talked about building off wins. After Saturday’s dud, in which the Capitals surrendered the first three goals and couldn’t gain traction offensively until
it was too late, Laviolette’s team will look to rebound when it hosts the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.
Before the Capitals can get to that point, there are questions to answer, foremost what they will do in net Sunday. Whether it’s Vanecek, 39-year-old backup Craig Anderson or recovering youngster Ilya Samsonov in goal, the players will appreciate the quick
turnaround.
After promising performances Tuesday in Pittsburgh and Thursday against the Sabres, Vanecek struggled Saturday — he gave up a first-period power-play goal to Chris Kreider after failing to secure a rebound, then gave up goals to Alexis Lafrenière, last year’s No. 1 draft pick, and Ryan Strome just under a minute apart late in the second period — and he didn’t get much production in front of him.
The Capitals survived a scary moment early after forward Tom Wilson headed to the dressing room after taking a puck to the face.
Although he eventually returned Washington lacked energy in the first period.
The Capitals came up short on four power-play opportunities on the afternoon, and they only found life on offense when defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored his first goal of the season to make it 3-1 with less than a minute left in the second.
The Capitals scored first in the wins over Pittsburgh and Buffalo, and they had a chance to follow suit Saturday after drawing an early penalty.
But they came away empty on their first power-play opportunity — their best look came on a one-timer from Alex Ovechkin — and the Rangers were afforded a pair of man advantages when Richard Panik and Lars Eller committed penalties.
With Eller in the box, Vanecek couldn’t control an Artemi Panarin slap shot off his pad, and Kreider cleaned up the rebound for his fifth goal of the season to make it 1-0 at 14 minutes, 57 seconds.
The Capitals ratcheted up the energy in the second period, producing 11 shots, but they struggled to solve Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 27 saves.