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The Washington Capitals fell to the Dallas Stars 4-3 on Saturday night at America Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.  The loss dropped the Capitals record to 40-10-4, the last team to reach double-digit losses for the season. The win improved the Dallas Stars record to 36-15-5.  The Capitals next play host to the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night at Verizon Center.

Starting lines for the Capitals:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Burakovsky-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Johansson-Wilson
Laich-Richards-Galiev

Defensive Pairs
Schmidt-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Chorney

Brooks Orpik was scratched due to the cracked bone he sustained from a blocked shot against Detroit on November 10th. Jay Beagle was scratched due to a wrist injury he sustained against Buffalo on December 30th. Michael Latta was a healthy scratch. The goalie match-up for tonight’s game, provided by @CapsGoalies:

QUICK TAKES
This was possibly the fastest paced game of he season so far for the Caps.  The Capitals would lose this one in the second period, giving up four goals to the Stars in the middle frame.  This was the first time the Caps yielded four goals in a single period all season.  The Caps would mount a fierce rally in the third period, scoring three times, but would be unable to net the tying goal.

A fast start to this one with plenty of speed displayed by both teams. The Capitals were nailed for the game’s first penalty for too many men on the ice, at 4:55 of the opening frame. This was the Caps third bench penalty on this road trip.  The Capitals penalty kill team would once again come-up with the stops, allowing just one shot on goal with no damages. 5-on-5 play would be fairly even through the first period, with plenty of offensive pressure by both teams, however not many great scoring chances.  The period would end in a scoreless tie.  The Stars led in shots on goal 8-6 through the first 20 minutes.

The Stars would get on the scoreboard first as the result of an offensive zone turnover by Justin Williams that led to an odd-man break away goal for the Stars Mattias Janmark at 1:55 of the middle frame.

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The Stars would stretch their lead to 2-0 on a short-range, top-shelf dish by Jamie Benn at 6:48 of the second period.

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Tyler Seguin would stretch the Stars lead to 3-0 on a wrister from the right dot at the end of a Caps neutral zone turnover at 14:01 of the second period.

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The Stars would score their fourth goal of the period on a 5-on-3 power play goal by Tyler Seguin.

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The second period would end with the Stars leading 4-0. The Stars led in SOG 25-11 through two periods of play.

Philipp Grubauer replaced Braden Holtby in net for the Caps to start the third period.  Alex Ovechkin would get the Caps on the board with a power play goal at 4:03 of the third period.

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Justin Williams would further cut into the Stars lead on a short-range shot at 7:20 of the final frame.

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Andre Burakovsky would cut the Stars lead to one at 13:54 of the final frame on a nifty top-shelf shot.

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Dallas would hang-on to win it 4-3.