‘We weren’t ready’: Sharks take bite of Caps
After reaching new heights, Capitals sink to new depths
WASHINGTON — Charlie Lindgren stared at the video board above the Capital One Arena ice during the third period Sunday — the Washington Capitals goaltender needed a clearer look at the 66-foot knuckler of a shot that had fluttered over his shoulder and into the net. It was a desperation heave from the boards by San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson, but after it deflected off a stick and found its way past Lindgren, it merely amplified Washington’s misery in a 4-1 loss to sour a weekend that had begun with such promise.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Washington had earned its most uplifting win of the season on the road against the NHL-best Boston Bruins, and afterward the Capitals spoke of playing with urgency during the home stretch. That urgency was largely absent Sunday against one of the league’s worst teams. Instead, the Capitals retreated to their dressing room and tried to make sense of their bewildering performance. Winger Conor Sheary studied a stat sheet in the hallway afterward, and some of the numbers were alarming. Just 21 shots on goal. Ten giveaways. Three failed powerplay opportunities. It went on and on.
“We weren’t ready. We didn’t play hard. We didn’t do a lot of things right,” Sheary said.
Lindgren (29 saves) would blame himself for setting an ominous tone. He felt refreshed coming off the Capitals’ bye week following the All-Star Game, choosing to spend it at a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina as his body and mind recuperated. The backup goalie entered Sunday’s game with 10 wins in his past 13 starts, but that success quickly became an afterthought. He gave up a goal on the first shot he saw, a short-side snipe by San Jose’s Evgeny Svechnikov that gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead just 2:54 in.
“That didn’t set the team up, didn’t put them in a good spot,” Lindgren said.
But that play only came about because of a turnover by center Lars Eller. He was trying to push the pace through the middle of the ice in what became a trend Sunday as the Capitals struggled to take care of the puck. Even as Lindgren settled in and made a string of saves to keep his team out of a deeper hole, the Sharks controlled the neutral zone and capitalized on their scoring chances, including a power-play goal by Alexander Barabanov at 9:04 of the second period. That was the least favorite 20-minute frame of the day for Washington coach Peter Laviolette, he said, but his Capitals were still in striking distance after Evgeny Kuznetsov barreled his way to the net and muscled the puck past San Jose goalie Kaapo Kahkonen at 16:56.
Kuznetsov and Kahkonen collided on the play, and Sharks trainers rushed to check on the goalie, who had taken a blow to the helmet and was replaced by Aaron Dell. (San Jose coach David Quinn deemed it an upper-body injury; Dell made eight saves in relief.) That mattered little. The Capitals could not generate scoring chances — they have managed three or more goals in just one of their past seven games — and had just 15 shots by the midway point of the third period.
“I think tonight obviously exposed us in a lot of ways, but I think in general we probably need to get a bit more action at the net, more people at the net, more pucks at the net, create second-chance opportunities,” Sheary said. “Coming off an emotional win last night, we still only scored two goals [against Boston], but we played hard defensively and didn’t give up a whole lot. Tonight, we seemed to be forcing east-west a little bit too much and creating turnovers that led to them transitioning and getting to our zone.”
Said Laviolette: “We’ve got to get back to a quicker pace, a quicker mindset, a delivery mindset.”
The Capitals will have to find that frame of mind quickly: The rest of this week features a home contest with a playoff hopeful in the Florida Panthers on Thursday sandwiched between games against the Carolina Hurricanes, owners of the NHL’s secondbest record, on Tuesday and Saturday. The latter matchup will be an outdoor game at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Before the Capitals could turn their attention to that stretch, they had to finish dissecting Sunday’s letdown. The dagger came at 12:55 of the third period, when the puck bounced to Karlsson after a faceoff.
He flung the puck toward the net and it deflected off the shaft of Marcus Johansson’s stick.
“I saw he shot it and then it hit a stick and it was a seeing-eye shot,” Lindgren said afterward, but he did not fully see the puck as it sliced through the air and into the net to give the Sharks a comfortable two-goal lead. “So disappointed in that, too,” he said. Here’s what else to know about the Capitals’ loss:
Mantha sits out
Winger Anthony Mantha missed Sunday’s game with a non-COVID illness. Laviolette brought Aliaksei Protas into the lineup on the fourth line to play alongside Eller and Garnet Hathaway, who had the winner in Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Boston. Protas was in the penalty box for Barabanov’s goal and finished with one shot on goal in 10:07.
Kuznetsov ‘fine’ after exiting
Just 55 seconds after he brought the home crowd to its feet with what would be the Capitals’ lone goal, Kuznetsov left the game after absorbing a crushing check from Sharks captain Logan Couture. Kuznetsov headed to the dressing room while clutching his right arm.
Kuznetsov returned in the third period and said afterward he was “fine,” but it was a scary moment for a team hampered by a slew of major injuries. Kuznetsov’s goal was his eighth; he has three points in his past three games.