ST. PAUL, Minn. — The lasting picture of the Washington Capitals’ 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild arrived early within the third interval Sunday, when middle Evgeny Kuznetsov remained facedown after a blind-side hit. As a coach skidded out towards him, he needed to keep away from all of the sticks and gloves splayed throughout the ice. A melee had damaged out, with Capitals ahead T.J. Oshie in the course of it, throwing his fists into the physique of Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, who had delivered the examine on Kuznetsov.
Washington
Irate after blind-side hit fells Evgeny Kuznetsov, Caps falter vs. Wild
On the benches, Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette screamed at an official, demanding an evidence for why no penalty was referred to as for the hit — and why, as Kuznetsov limped to the dressing room, it was the Wild that may be happening an influence play after Oshie was penalized for instigating. Then got here one other merciless twist: Minnesota scored simply seconds after its man benefit ended to seize a three-goal lead and punt Washington’s slim playoffs hopes additional into the ether.
“A participant is susceptible like that and takes a pop at his head — I don’t just like the hit,” Laviolette mentioned in his postgame remarks, which lasted all of 55 seconds. There was not a lot else to say. For the fifth straight sport, his workforce surrendered a purpose within the first six minutes — two, in reality, as ahead Matt Boldy acquired an early begin on his method to a hat trick — and two power-play objectives by captain Alex Ovechkin weren’t sufficient for the Capitals to climb out of yet one more gap.
“It’s irritating,” middle Dylan Strome mentioned. “Clearly our begins aren’t nice. I’m undecided the precise motive.”
For the primary time in 4 video games, the Capitals didn’t enable the primary shot on purpose to enter the online. Nor did they permit the second shot to go in. However when the puck once more bounced off goaltender Charlie Lindgren’s pad, no person in entrance of him cleared it, and Boldy cleaned it up for a purpose simply 50 seconds in.
For weeks, the Capitals’ gamers and coaches had answered questions on their penchant for ugly begins, about how their sport is likely to be liberated a bit if they might simply get previous the primary couple of minutes with out a deficit. However right here they had been once more, surrendering their quickest purpose of the season to Boldy, then watching him add one other lower than 4 minutes later.
There have been points that Washington may level to: As they watch for prime defenseman John Carlson to return from a daunting head harm, the Capitals had been once more with out blue-liner Nick Jensen due to an upper-body harm, leaving the again finish with only one right-handed defenseman and forcing Laviolette to maneuver Gabriel Carlsson from the left facet to the fitting. To make issues worse, the Capitals additionally performed with out prime goalie Darcy Kuemper, who suffered an upper-body harm early in observe Saturday.
Minnesota nonetheless seemed extra prepared as soon as the puck dropped. Laviolette described the beginning of the sport in three phrases: “It wasn’t good.”
Ovechkin, who was not cleared to play till a couple of hours earlier than the sport due to a lingering lower-body harm, awoke his workforce within the second interval. He delivered a sequence of hits and unleashed a barrage of pictures, together with a one-timer that beat Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 2-1 at 5:34. However the Capitals once more needed to play from two objectives behind after Ryan Reaves redirected a Ryan Hartman shot by Lindgren at 10:14.
“We tried to battle again,” Ovechkin mentioned.
The Capitals’ breaking level got here within the third interval after Kuznetsov went down and Minnesota’s Brandon Duhaime made it 4-1 at 3:46. The interval dragged with scrums after whistles. The enforcers — Washington’s Tom Wilson and Minnesota’s Reaves — jawed forwards and backwards and appeared on the cusp of dropping the gloves.
Ovechkin once more pulled his workforce inside two objectives with one other power-play snipe at 12:33, however somewhat greater than a minute later, Boldy accomplished his hat trick on a breakaway. Washington by no means stopped grinding till the ultimate horn, getting a purpose from Strome, and it was solely becoming that the sport ended with the Capitals’ veterans venting their frustration following a late whistle. Within the ultimate seconds, Nicklas Backstrom and Dumba grappled, Wilson locked horns with a few Wild gamers, and Ovechkin skated over to defend his teammates.
They finally returned to a quiet dressing room. Everybody seemed exhausted. Laviolette was nonetheless fuming. Kuznetsov wore a wrap round his proper shoulder. Strome packed his gear and took inventory of one other gradual begin — and the few probabilities the Capitals have left with 11 video games remaining this season.
“We acquired to have a greater begin subsequent sport,” he mentioned. “Time is rapidly operating out.”
Right here’s what else to know concerning the Capitals’ loss:
Along with his two objectives pushing his profession whole to 819, Ovechkin inched nearer to Wayne Gretzky’s file of 894. Ovechkin, who added an help, has some extent in all 12 video games he has performed on the Wild’s Xcel Vitality Heart. He additionally pushed his purpose whole towards Fleury to 27, essentially the most towards any goalie Ovechkin has confronted.
Kuemper, who had began 9 of the earlier 10 video games, left observe early Saturday with an upper-body harm and was unavailable towards the Wild. Washington referred to as up Zach Fucale from Hershey of the American Hockey League to function Lindgren’s backup.
Jensen missed his second consecutive sport with an upper-body harm.