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Shorthanded Capitals Fall Apart, Lose 5-2 In Ottawa; Mantha Scores Third Goal Of Season

Harrison Brown
Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals lost to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 5-2 at Canadian Tire Center on Thursday to fall to 2-3-0 this season. Goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 39 saves in the loss.

Capitals’ Lines at Ottawa

Alex Ovechkin — Lars Eller — Conor Sheary
Joe Snively — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Marcus Johansson — Connor McMichael — Anthony Mantha
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Dmitry Orlov — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary— Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: D Matt Irwin, LW Beck Malenstyn

Injured: LW Carl Hagelin (hip, missed fifth straight game, out indefinitely); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, fifth, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, fifth, indefinite); RW Connor Brown (lower-body, first, indefinite)

Suspended: C Evgeny Kuznetsov (one of one)

With Kuznetsov unavailable, Eller bumped up to the top-line while McMichael drew in and Strome moved down. Snively also slid in and Sheary skated on the top-line with Brown out. Mantha bumped down in favor of Snively. Protas was also demoted. The Capitals also swapped their top two left-handed blueliners.

First Period

Scoring

10:01 (five-on-three PPG), 1-0 WSH: Oshie finished Johansson’s pass from behind the net after Johansson circled the offensive zone and Oshie went to the roof over the glove of goaltender Anton Forsberg. Oshie has five goals in his last three games in Ottawa. Johansson has one goal and four points through five games.

10:35 (PPG), 2-0 WSH: Mantha bombed one over the glove of Forsberg from the right dot after Orlov got Sheary’s pass from below the goal-line and fed him at the top. Sheary extended his point streak to three games (two goals, three points). Mantha and Sheary co-lead the team with three goals. The team has scored on five of their last seven opportunities on the man advantage.

Shots: 12-6 Washington

Other notable stats: The Capitals scored on both of their power plays and had no giveaways while Ottawa had 10 but the Ottawa led 13-3 in hits through 20 minutes. There were no takeaways.

Second Period

Scoring

5:52, 2-1 WSH (PPG): Right-wing Drake Batherson finished a tic-tac-toe passing play over the glove of Kuemper on one knee back door after right-wing Brady Tkachuk laid a pass from the right half-wall.

7:39, 2-2 (PPG): Batherson wristed his own rebound over the blocker of Kuemper in front after deflecting defenseman Thomas Chabot’s point shot.

McMichael wrestled and took down right-wing Parker Kelly after Kelly hit Carlson in open ice with 1:45 left.

Shots: 21-17 Ottawa (including 15-5 in the second)

Other notable stats: Ottawa won 63% of the draws and led 22-15 in hits. Each team converted on half of their four power plays. Washington led 14-9 in blocked shots and was credited with three giveaways while Ottawa had 12.

Third Period

Scoring

5:53, 3-2 Ottawa: Center Shane Pinto was left open in the slot and ripped one past the blocker of Kuemper to complete a triangulation passing play that started behind the net.

19:24, 4-2 Ottawa: Right-wing Tyler Motte chipped one to himself to the left dot, skated to it, and wristed one into an empty net.

19:53, 5-2 Ottawa: Right-wing Alex DeBrincat wristed a shot into an empty net from the blue line.

Shots: 44-24 Ottawa (including 22-7 in the third)

Other notable stats: Ottawa won 64% of the draws and led 28-24 in hits. The Capitals led 21-12 in blocked shots and had six giveaways while Ottawa was on the board for 17. Each team scored twice on four power plays.

Next game: Saturday vs. Los Angeles Kings (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)

By Harrison Brown

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