The Washington Capitals fell to the red-hot Dallas Stars, 3-2 on Thursday night. The win raised the Stars record to a lofty 16-4-0. The Capitals record dropped to 12-5-1. The Dallas Stars had won 8 of their past 9 games on the road prior to their visit to the Verizon Center.

Philipp Grubauer got the start in goal for the Capitals.  Kari Lehtonen got the nod for the Stars.  Brooks Orpik missed his 4th straight game since he sustained a lower body injury in Detroit on November 10th.  The starting lines for the Capitals:

Offensive Lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Burakovsky
Chimera-Beagle-Williams
Laich-Latta-Wilson

Defensive Pairs:
Schmidt-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Chorney

Stanislav Galiev was the healthy scratch for the Capitals.

QUICK TAKES
For the ninth straight game, the Capitals gave up the first goal of the game. The Capitals penalty kill continues to stymie opposing team’s odd-man advantages – tonight against the leagues 2nd best power play, the Caps allowed just one shot in two power plays. The Capitals had no power plays in this game.

A rather pedestrian start to this one. The first eight minutes saw very few scoring chances for either side.  The Dallas Stars’ Tyler Seguin would be the first to light the lamp at the 9:28 mark on a 3-on-1 break away.

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Coach Trotz utilized a coaches challenge to review for goalie interference, but to no avail as the call on the ice stood. The score made it 9 straight games in which the Capitals gave up the first goal of the game.  The Capitals would retaliate at the 17:40 mark when Nicklas Backstrom knocked in a rebound from the right side of the net.

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The first period would end tied 1-1.  Each team had 12 shots on goal.

The Capitals started the second frame with excellent pressure. Tom Wilson had two solid chances, one hit a post and another on a sweet deke in front of the net, but he just couldn’t finish the deal.  Alex Ovechkin had a nice rush around the Stars’ Johnny Oduya but the shot hit the outside of the net.  The second period would be scoreless, with the game remaining knotted in a 1-1 tie.  As was the case last night in Detroit, the Capitals followed a 1-1 first period with a scoreless 2nd period.

The Stars would regain the lead at the 4:45 mark of third period on a shot from the point and a deflection by Cody Eakin in front of the net.

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Alex Ovechkin would tie the game at 2-2 just moments later. This was Ovechkin’s 484th career goal, making him the all-time goal-leader for a Russian-born player in NHL history.

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The Stars would regain the lead, 3-2 mid-way through the third period on a turnover by Jason Chimera and a goal by the Stars Jason Spezza at the 11:10 mark of the third period.

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Stars would hold on for the 3-2 win.