Photo: Patrick McDermott/NHL via Getty Images

The Washington Capitals fell to the Vancouver Canucks 2-1 (SO) Saturday afternoon at Capital One Arena. The shootout loss drops the Capitals record to 16-4-5 (37 points) on the season. The Capitals remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division, four points ahead of the Islanders, but the Islanders have played five less games. The Capitals return to the ice on Wednesday when they host the Panthers at Capital One Arena. Puck is just after 7:00 PM.

GAME STATS

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GAME SUMMARY
The Capitals cracked the seal on the scoring just 2:22 into the contest with a tally from Jakub Vrana, but the Canucks would answer with a power play goal for a 1-1 tie at the first intermission. After a scoreless middle frame and scoreless third period and scoreless overtime, Bo Horvat would win it for the Canucks in the shootout.

STARTERS
Braden Holtby (11-2-0-3, 2.98 GAA, .904 sv%) started between the pipes for the Capitals. Jacob Markstrom (6-6-0-3, 2.84 GAA, .909 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Canucks. The Capitals starting lines and defensive pairs:

Capitals lines vs Canucks:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Eller-Oshie
Panik-Stephenson-Boyd
Malenstyn-Sgarbossa-Leipsic

Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Siegenthaler-Gudas

Holtby

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) November 23, 2019

Scratches: Nicklas Backstrom (upper body injury, day-to-day), Christian Djoos (Recalled by the Capitals on Friday).

Jay Beagle was scratched with an undisclosed injury for the Canucks.

FIRST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring with a snipe from Jakub Vrana (11) at 2:22 of the opening frame. Lars Eller (8) had the lone assist.

Absolute SNIPE from V #CapsNucks pic.twitter.com/eNtZxd8yhZ

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 23, 2019

The Canucks were the benefactors of a 5-on-3 power play midway through the period after infractions by Chandler Stephenson and Richard Panik, and the Canucks would capitalize. Elias Pettersson would snipe one home at 14:00 of the opening frame.

Elias Pettersson with an absolute rocket of a one-timer beats Holtby on the PP 🚀😱 pic.twitter.com/EdtCKJs88C

— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) November 23, 2019

The Capitals would squash the remaining 5-on-4 Canucks power play.

The first period would conclude with the game tied 1-1. The Capitals led in 5-on-5 shot attempts 15-10 for the first frame. The Capitals led in shots on goal 11-7 for the first 20 minutes.Vancouver was 1 for 2 and the Capitals 0 for 1 on the power play.

SECOND PERIOD
The Capitals and Canucks skated to a scoreless draw in the middle frame. The Canucks led in shot attempts 16-15 for the middle period, with the Capitals leading 32-27 after two periods.

The Canucks led in shots on goal 11-7 for the middle frame. Shots on goal were tied 18-18 after two periods.

Vancouver was 1 for 4 and the Capitals 0 for 2 on the power play after 40 minutes of play.

THIRD PERIOD
The third period would also go scoreless. The Capitals led in shots on goal 12-10 for the final frame, and 30-28 in regulation.

OVERTIME
Evgeny Kuznetsov was called for hooking 1:25 into the extra frame, giving the Canucks their fifth power play of the day, but the Capitals successfully killed the Canucks man advantage.

The extra frame would go scoreless as well.

SHOOTOUT
1. Capitals: TJ Oshie: No good. Vancouver: Boesser: No good
2. Capitals: Evgeny Kuznetsov: No good. Vancouver: Pettersson: No good.
3. Capitals: Alex Ovechkin: No good. Vancouver: Josh Leivo: No good.
4. Capitals: Jakub Vrana: No good. Vancouver: JT Miller: No good
5. Capitals: Lars Eller: No good. Vancouver: Adam Gaudette: No good
6. Capitals: John Carlson: No good. Vancouver: Peerson: No good
7. Capitals: Dmitry orlov: No good. Vancouver: Bo Horvat: Good.

The Captain Bo Horvat wins it in the shootout for the #Canucks! pic.twitter.com/30Vd7VxcgO

— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) November 23, 2019

SHAVINGS

• The NHL box score is here.
• Jakub Vrana scored his 11th goal of 2019-20. He is one of four Capitals with at least 10 goals this season. No other team has more than three such players.

By Jon Sorensen

SCENES FROM THE DISTRICT

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