Photo Credit : Amber Searls / USA TODAY Sports
After back-to-back losses in Florida, Dallas’ road game prowess looked to be in jeopardy. And after falling behind the Washing Capitals 3-1 in the second period and facing down a top-five goalie in the league, a third loss in a row seemed all but in the books. But Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood and forwards Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson turned the tide for the team.
Seven minutes into the game, the Capitals scored the first goal of the night. Wedgewood came out of the net to retrieve the puck behind him but fanned on the backhand pass intended for defenseman Jani Hakanpää. Washington center Connor McMichael was there to retrieve the puck and passed it Capitals center Aliaksei Protas, who took a shot on net. The shot bounced off Wedgewood’s leg, rebounded back, slid between his legs and over the goal line.
Halfway through the period, Washington went on the first power play of the game when Hintz was sent to the box for tripping Nicolas Aube-Kubel, but Dallas killed off the penalty.
With 4:22 left in the period, Stars center Tyler Seguin tied the game. Dallas’ Craig Smith held the puck along the boards in the Capitals zone before passing it to Seguin, who was set up nearly at the goal line to Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren’s right. Seguin took the sharp angle shot and snuck the puck behind Lindgren.
The Capitals regained the lead just four and a half minutes into the second period. Washington defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk passed to right wing Tom Wilson who whiffed the shot in the middle of the Stars zone. Capitals center Dylan Strome recovered the puck from Wilson’s whiff and shot it past Wedgewood, putting the Caps up 2-1.
Three minutes later, Protas stole the puck from Stars center Matt Duchene, who was playing in his 1000th game, and passed it to right wing Matthew Phillips in the neutral zone. At the same time, Evgeny Kuznetsov was rushing into the Stars zone, and Phillips sent the puck ahead to him. Kuznetsov launched into a breakaway and looked as if he’d skate to Wedgewood’s left as he approached the net. But at the last minute he nudged the puck back to his forehand and snuck it past the right skate of Wedgewood, giving the Capitals a 3-1 lead.
Dallas began to whittle away at the Capitals lead with 5:41 left in the second period when Duchene and left wing Mason Marchment launched into a 2-on-1 rush into the Capitals zone. Duchene took the puck into the zone before passing it to Marchment who fired it over the shoulder of Lindgren.
Washington’s Wilson was sent to the penalty box for goaltender interference after bowling Wedgewood over in the net 30 seconds into the third period. While on the power play, Robertston shot the puck from the middle of the Capitals blue line, but it was deflected down by Stars captain Jamie Benn. The deflection caused the puck to bounce off the left pad of Lindgren, sending it up into the air and over his shoulder, into the goal.
With 12:07 left in the game, Radek Faksa was sent to the penalty box for holding Strome. The Stars were nearly 2-for-2 on the penalty kill for the night, but with 47 seconds left in the power play, right wing Anthony Mantha took the puck into the Stars zone to Wedgewood’s right. Mantha dropped the pass to Strome, who took a shot from the middle of the faceoff circle and sent it just beyond the reach of the Stars goalie’s glove, putting the Capitals up 4-3.
But the Stars wouldn’t give up easily and with 6:10 remaining in the final frame, Hintz tied the game yet again. Robertson skated the puck into the Capitals zone and almost instantly passed to his left to Hintz who launched the puck toward Lindgren, off the crossbar and into the net.
Both teams had multiple promising chances to take the victory in overtime, but neither could capitalize, even when the Capitals went on the 4-on-3 power play following an interference penalty on Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen.
Both Dallas and Washington had so far been in the shootout twice this season, with the Stars going 1-1 and the Capitals going 2-0.
Kuznetsov was up first for the Capitals and took the puck into the zone extremely slowly, passing the puck to his forehand and backhand numerous times before shooting it toward Wedgewood who knocked it away.
Robertson was up first for Dallas. He skated the puck into the zone to Lindgren’s right, keeping puck movement to a minimum. As he approached Lindgren, he did a quick backhand forehand pass sequence before shooting it up and over the stick shoulder of the Washington goalie.
Strome was up second for the Capitals, entering the zone to Wedgewood’s left, and tried to mimic Kuznetsov’s move from earlier in the game, attempting to tap it past the opposite foot of the Dallas goalie at the last second, but Wedgewood denied him.
Duchene took the final shot for the Stars but was held off by Lindgren.
And as could only be the case for the Capitals, captain Alexander Ovechkin was up last to try and keep the shootout going. Ovechkin entered the zone to Wedgewood’s right and passed forehand backhand consistently until he was directly in front of Wedgewood. Ovechkin moved right but nudged the puck left, trying to slide it past the Dallas goalie, but Wedgewood knocked the puck away before it could even reach the crease.
The Stars travel home on Saturday to face the Golden Knights at 3:00 p.m. at American Airlines Center.
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