They got here from behind: Hawks beat Caps 3-2

The Washington Capitals performed hockey, ostensibly, in opposition to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday evening. I had a bit right here about how the one factor that issues is that they received, however they didn’t. In darkish irony, the Caps blew a lead and now are nursing a two-goal dropping streak on the street.

Pierre-Luc Dubois did what he by no means does, i.e. rating a purpose; it was a pleasant one with him dancing round Louis Crevier, who’s a case research in what occurs to replacement-level expertise if you develop the league to 32 groups. Then Andrew Mangiapane scored one of many prettiest objectives of the entire season; we’ll discuss it in a second.

The second interval was abject distress however mercilessly goal-less. The third interval was higher however with none of that mercy stuff. Early within the body and after a giveaway by Chychrun, Ilya Mikheyev scored a slick shorthanded purpose. Then TJ Brodie tied it with six minutes remaining in regulation. Ryan Donato went laborious to the online to present the Hawks a late lead, which held.

Caps lose.

• The Capitals had journey bother leaving Dallas on Monday, so that they didn’t arrive in Chicago till lunchtime Tuesday, and that and that alone is why they stunk up the joint. Surely.
• Washington’s lowest shots-on-goal whole this season was 20, in that 5-2 win over Colorado. They barely cleared that bar on this one – tying it with three and a half minutes remaining.
• Can you think about how steamed Spencer Carbery was in regards to the bench penalties? His workforce executes a foul line change, kills the penalty, waits 9 seconds, then does it once more. Good factor Chicago generates fewer photographs on the facility play than any workforce besides Philadelphia.

• I used to be actually excited for Jakub Vrana on this one. So far this season he’s hardly had time away from the struggling Hendrix Lapierre. With Lapierre on nacho responsibility and in opposition to a not-so-scary opponent, I believed this was Vrana’s probability to shine. Instead, his line with Eller and Mangiapane obtained clobbered. He was outshot 9 to 2 ultimately verify. I do know nothing about this sport. Stop studying me.
• Due to sickness, Andrew Mangiapane missed Monday evening’s sport; his absence absolutely the only real cause the Caps didn’t prolong a franchise document street win streak. He returned to do probably the most bonkers spotlight play from a man you wouldn’t anticipate.

• During the primary intermission, Monumental’s Al Koken asked Mangiapane to walk us through his goal. “Don’t know what occurred there,” Mangiapane mentioned, “however completely happy that it kinda went in there.” As a private coverage I don’t use a ton of participant quotes in my hockey writing. For the identical cause I don’t ask my cat how her dinner tasted.
• One fella who actually struggled: Jakub Chychrun, particularly on that turnover shortly earlier than the Mikheyev purpose and indifference to back-checking instantly earlier than it. He regarded like he wanted IV fluids. He was on ice for the Brodie and Donato objectives.
• From the DuPont out-of-town scoreboard: The Rangers misplaced – once more – and to the very unhealthy Nashville Predators. They’ve obtained one win of their final 5 video games. Who will get to put in writing in regards to the Rangers is probably the most aggressive struggle on the RMNB crew proper now. They’ve gotta do one thing drastic, proper? Delicious. Meanwhile, don’t look now however the Penguins are good once more – 7-2-1 of their final ten, partially powered by 13 p.c taking pictures, however first rate underlying play. Interesting instances within the Metro.

I don’t caaaaaaaaaare that the Capitals had been terrible tonight. They didn’t need to win, but in addition they didn’t win, so there’s no edgy jokes I could make about how “successful is the one factor that issues” is fash-coded. And that’s wonderful. It’s my bedtime. The workforce was taking part in drained, taking part in after a goofed-up journey day, taking part in after the letdown of ending a giant successful streak. They have so many excuses, and I do know you’ll all take the hard-line pose of “no excuses,” however let me counter with this postulate: what if YES excuses?

Wish they obtained the win right here, as that’s the top of Washington’s straightforward stretch in December. Carolina, LA, Boston, and Toronto will fill our subsequent eleven days – 4 robust groups. Maybe they’ll get Ovi again quickly.