Capitals vs. Stars Recap: Stars Shine Bright in Third Period to Overcome Caps, 2-1.

The Washington Capitals returned home to Capital One Arena after a successful two-game road trip featuring wins in Winnipeg and Chicago. The Dallas Stars provided the opposition, coming into this game with four wins in five games, and they made it five in six with a 2-1 win in a tightly fought contest.

Here’s Thursday night’s Plus/Minus:

• Plus: Charlie Lindgren, who took the loss but was excellent in the effort. He’s been a bit of a hard luck goalie lately with some odd bounces. Tonight it was a puck that trickled through the crease for a gift to Jamie Benn uncovered at the far post for a goal, and the other when a point drive hit Lars Eller in the back and deflected in.
• Minus: 1:19 of time early in the third period when the Stars wiped out a 1-0 Caps lead and took the lead for good.

A few more notes on the game:

• One in, one out. Lars Eller returned to the lineup after missing the Caps’ last game in Chicago, but Sonny Milano was out with an undisclosed non-COVID related illness.
• The first period ended scoreless, but it was still an active period. Some tidbits… Charlie Lindgren stopped all 14 shots he faced for the Caps; Jake Oettinger stopped all 16 shots he faced for the Stars… Dallas out-attempted the Caps, 25-20… Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel led the Caps with two shots on goal apiece; Orlov and Aube-Kubel led the team with three shot attempts apiece… Garnet Hathaway had two credited hits… the Caps were just 9-for-23 on faceoffs (39.1 percent)… John Carlson led the Caps in ice time (7:40); Nic Dowd skated just 3:21.
• The game was proceeding without any indication that either team was in danger of being scored upon, and then at 9:23 of the second period, Alex Ovechkin faked shot and whipped a pass to Conor Sheary darting out of the corner to the far post. Sheary stopped the puck with his skate and deftly moved it to his stick, burying the puck behind goalie Jake Oettinger to give the Caps a 1-0 lead.
• The Caps had the only goal in the second period and dominated possession. A few tidbits… Washington outshot Dallas, 16-5, and out attempted them, 32-10… Dmitr Orlov led the Caps with five shots on goal and six shot attempts through 40 minutes… the Caps were 13-for-22 on faceoffs in the period (59.1 percent)… John Carlson led the Caps with 15:11 in ice time through two periods; Aliaksei Protas had 6:55.
• A penalty to Anthony Mantha to end the second period carried into the third period, and Dallas converted when Jamie Benn was gifted a puck at his feet that had slid off goalie Charlie Lindgren’s stick and trickled across the blue paint, and he buried it to make it a 1-1 game at the 48-second mark of the period.
• Dallas scored shortly thereafter to take a 2-1 lead when Colin Miller’s drive from the right point hit the Caps’ Lars Eller in the back, redirecting the puck past Lindgren’ glove on the far side at 2:07 of the period.
• The Caps could not find the equalizer in the last 18 minutes and saw their five game win streak come to an end.
• Washington finished the game with a 46-26 edge in shots on goal and a 72-51 advantage in shot attempts.
• Despite the loss, this was the sixth time in seven games that goalie Charlie Lindberg allowed two or fewer goals; he has stopped 168 of 181 shots (.928) over that span.
• Dmitry Orlov led the Caps with eight shots on goal and ten shot attempts; 17 of the 18 skaters recorded at least one shot on goa, Garnet Hathaway the only Capital blanked in that column on the score sheet.
• John Carlson skated 23:49 to lead the team in ice time; Hathaway skated 9:18.
• Alex Ovechkin had five shots on goal (seven attempts), but no goals, ending his goal streak at four games (over which he had seven goals) and was denied in his effort to tie Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time goal scoring list.

This was a contest the Caps just need to shake off and move on from. They will have to with the Toronto Maple Leafs up next on Saturday night.