The Washington Capitals lost to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-4 in a shootout at Enterprise Center on Thursday night. The loss dropped Washington’s record to 7-9-3 this season.
With the loss, the Capitals are now seventh in the Metropolitan Division, and they are currently two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning having one and two games in hand, respectively, on them. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 20 shots in his first game back in St. Louis after spending last season in their organization.
Capitals’ Lines at St. Louis
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Aliaksei Protas
Sonny Milano — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: LW Joe Snively, D Alexander Alexeyev
Injured: RW Connor Brown (ACL, missed 15th straight game, out indefinitely); D Dmitry Orlov (lower-body, sixth, day-to-day); LW Carl Hagelin (hip, 19th, indefinite); RW Tom Wilson (ACL, 19th, indefinite); C Nicklas Backstrom (hip, 19th, indefinite); RW T.J. Oshie (lower-body, 10th, indefinite); LW Beck Malenstyn (finger, eighth, week-to-week)
Suspended: RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel (last of three)
Protas replaced Milano, who slid down one line, on the top trio. McMichael replaced Snively and Johansson was demoted to the fourth-line. Carlson played the 900th NHL game of his career.
St. Louis’ Lines
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Vladimir Tarasenko
Brandon Saad — Ryan O’Reilly — Josh Leivo
Ivan Barbashev — Brayden Schenn — Jordan Kyrou
Nikita Alexandrov — Noel Acciari — Tyler Pitlick
Nick Leddy — Niko Mikkola
Torrey Krug — Justin Faulk
Calle Rosen — Tyler Tucker
Thomas Greiss
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: LW Nathan Walker, RW Alexey Toropchenko
Injured: D Colton Parayko (undisclosed, second, day-to-day), D Robert Bortuzzo (upper-body, fifth, indefinite), D Marco Scandella (hip, 16th, indefinite), D Scott Perunovich (shoulder, 16th, indefinite), C Logan Brown (upper-body, fifth, indefinite)
First Period
Scoring
4:56, 1-0 St. Louis: After picking up the pick in the defensive zone, Kyrou skated ahead to the slot and dropped the puck to Schenn, who ripped one past the glove of Lindgren from the right dot.
It was all yellow… and now it’s goal-light red. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/Nyxdx4dbQQ
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 18, 2022
7:10, 2-0: Tarasenko dumped the puck in from the neutral zone and Buchnevich beat Carlson to it, wrapped around the net, and beat Lindgren to the right pad.
HOLY WRAPAROUND BATMAN! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/j2txb7efYP
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 18, 2022
11:49, 3-0 (PPG): Krug blasted one to the lower right pad of Lindgren from the top after playing catch with Thomas, who was at the left dot.
First we play keep-away, then we score. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/ynjyzIonKS
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 18, 2022
Shots: 9-8 Washington
Other notable stats: St. Louis won 74% of the draws and scored once on three power-plays. Washington had no takeaways while St. Louis was credited with three.
Second Period
Scoring
15:12, 3-1: After Strome forced a turnover by Tarasenko, he poked a cross-ice pass on the backhand to Ovechkin in front of the net. Ovechkin took a few steps, hesitated, and fired a shot glove-side on Greiss.
Ovi roofer pic.twitter.com/l21EShvgnv
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
17:36, 3-2 (SHG): Dowd skated the puck out of the defensive zone, fed Carlson in the neutral zone, and Carlson called his own number to the top left corner. The 32-year-old scored his second career shorthanded goal.
900th game calls for a goal pic.twitter.com/tMb9yeoDVH
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
18:02, 4-2: O’Reilly roofed a backhanded shot to the top right corner in front after getting a pass from Leivo just north of the goal-line.
Shots: 26-16 Washington (including 17-9 in the second)
Other notable stats: St. Louis won 67% of the faceoffs and scored once on their first four power plays. Washington had no giveaways while St. Louis tallied four.
Third Period
Scoring
15:45, 4-3 (PPG): Carlson one-timed a cross-ice feed from Strome from the top of the left dot by the glove of Greiss. It marked Carlson’s ninth career multi-goal game. Carlson is one of three players this season to record a shorthanded goal and a power-play goal in the same game (Vancouver Canucks center Bo Horvat, New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad) and the only defenseman to do so. Strome recorded two assists, marking his third multi-assist game this season and his team-leading fifth multi-point game.
Top 🧀 pic.twitter.com/OCTCQ9WjKk
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
16:57, 4-4: Sheary buried a pass from Kuznetsov down low after Kuznetsov got the puck, toe-dragged around Thomas, and Ovechkin spun around and passed to Kuznetsov in the corner. With his third point of the night, Ovechkin passed Bryan Trottier (1,425) for the 18th-most points in NHL history. Ovechkin recorded his 400th career multi-point game against St. Louis, moving him past Mark Recchi (399) for the 15th most in NHL history.
FOLKS pic.twitter.com/rjKRr19enQ
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 18, 2022
Dowd batted in a rebound from Orlov’s shot but with a high-stick and cross-checked Greiss in the chest with 2:23 left. Therefore, there was no goal.
Shots: 49-20 Washington (22-3 in the third)
Other notable stats: St. Louis won 66% of the faceoffs and led 16-10 in blocked shots. Washington finished with one giveaway while St. Louis earned six. Both teams scored one power-play goal (Washington had three opportunities, St. Louis four).
The Capitals limited St. Louis to three shots on goal in the third period, the fewest shots they have allowed in a single period this season.
Overtime
Scoring
None
Shots: 51-24 Washington (4-2 St. Louis in overtime)
The Capitals recorded 51 shots on goal against St. Louis, the first time Washington registered 50 or more shots in a games since March 20, 2019 in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Capitals are one of eight teams to record at least 50 shots in a game this season.
Shootout
Kyrou (St. Louis): sped in, slowed down, denied by right pad of Lindgren
Kuznetsov (Washington): deked slowly, fired one blocker-side past Greiss
Tarasenko (St. Louis): skated in and denied with the blocker
Ovechkin (Washington): deked on the backhand and shanked the shot blocker-side
O’Reilly (St. Louis): skated in, deked, faked shot, wait, scored top corner
Carlson (Washington): flew in, waited, denied by the pad after Greiss stretched out
Schenn (St. Louis): weaved from side to side, deked, hit the left post
Mantha (Washington): skated to the left, got to the middle, deked, fired one into the left pad of Greiss as stick broke
Thomas (St. Louis): took it wide, skated in, deked, missed net
Strome (Washington): took it wide, deked, went to middle, shut down by five-hole
Buchnevich (St. Louis): skated out, waited, fired one top left corner
Sheary (Washington): little circle out, went down the wing, fired one wide
Next game: Saturday vs. Colorado Avalanche (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)
By Harrison Brown