SEATTLE — The fatigued Washington Capitals were a step slow early in the game and had late lineup absences that were too big to overcome in a 5-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Sunday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
Washington (11-3-5) went 2-1-1 during a road trip that featured two sets of back-to-backs. Sunday’s loss was the Capitals’ first in regulation since a 2-1 defeat to Philadelphia on Nov. 6.
On top of the tough schedule, Washington had two late absences from its lineup. Forwards T.J. Oshie and Conor Sheary did not play because of injuries. Oshie, a Seattle-area native, was ruled out before warmups with a lower-body injury. Sheary, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, was not ruled out until after taking part in warmups.
With no more healthy forwards available, the Capitals had no choice but to use a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen (instead of the standard 12 and six). It was the first time they had done so this season.
The Kraken (5-12-1) jumped out to a three-goal lead before Washington made it interesting in the third. Alex Ovechkin scored his 15th goal of the season — and the 745th of his career — at 3:09 to make it 4-2. Ovechkin has 15 goals and 15 assists in 19 games.
But the Capitals could get no closer despite emptying the tank as the third period unfolded, eventually putting 23 shots on goal. Seattle’s Yanni Gourde found the empty net in the final minute to snuff Washington’s hopes.
“There was a stretch in the second period that didn’t go our way, and then from there we were chasing the game,” Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette said. “Third period I thought we could have won the game. We had enough chances to definitely put up six or seven goals.”
Washington’s Tom Wilson scored the first goal of the night 3:34 in. It was his third in five games. Evgeny Kuznetsov set up the play, stealing the puck from Jeremy Lauzon to the right of the net before he set up Wilson in the right circle for a shot past Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer (37 saves), the former Capitals backstop.
The Kraken tied the score with 4:02 left in the first on Jared McCann’s backhanded power-play goal past Vitek Vanecek (26 saves). It was the first goal the Capitals had allowed in 135 minutes 58 seconds — Ilya Samsonov had recorded shutouts in the previous two games — and the first power-play goal they had yielded in nine games.
Seattle scored twice in 43 seconds in the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Jaden Schwartz scored on a delayed penalty call with 13:43 left. On the next shift, Adam Larsson scored a backdoor goal off the rush. Not long after, Calle Jarnkrok notched Seattle’s fourth straight goal at 13:51.
Here is what to know from the Capitals’ loss:
Injury updates
Oshie’s absence came a day after he was activated from injured reserve and played against the Sharks, notching an assist in the 4-0 win.
Saturday brought Oshie’s first game since Oct. 27; he was injured when he took a shot off his right foot. Laviolette said after Sunday’s game that Oshie suffered the injury Saturday and that it is unrelated to his previous one. It forced him to miss his last few shifts of the game.
Sheary’s absence came after he scored twice at San Jose. He played his usual minutes and finished the game. Laviolette did not disclose details of Sheary’s injury after Sunday’s game, other than saying his ailment “popped up as he was getting ready.”
Sheary appeared to get hit by a Martin Fehervary dump-in in the second period Saturday, but he never missed a shift.
The injuries led to four rookie forwards being in the lineup Sunday. Brett Leason was one of them; he was called up from Hershey of the American Hockey League Sunday afternoon. Garrett Pilon was sent back down.
Something different
Trevor van Riemsdyk played defense and wing Sunday night. With his team missing two forwards, van Riemsdyk filled in as the 12th option up front. He played about half a dozen shifts, mainly on the right wing with Connor McMichael and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. In all, he skated 12:36.
“It wasn’t anything too crazy,” said van Riemsdyk, who noted that he hadn’t played wing since before his college days. “It was what it was, and we did our best to adjust.”
“This wasn’t something we planned on doing the whole game,” Laviolette said. “We were hoping to get through the first period, and we were okay going through the first and then as the game wore on then you can lean on the players a little more with the schedule we’ve had in the last 11 days.”
Ex-Kraken return
Washington had two players in its lineup Sunday who were selected by the Kraken in the expansion draft but never played for the NHL’s 32nd organization: Vanecek and defenseman Dennis Cholowski. Vanecek was dealt back to the Capitals in July for a 2023 second-round pick after Seattle signed Grubauer in free agency.
welcome back to a true kraken legend. pic.twitter.com/EsGC5mudGX
— Seattle Kraken (@SeattleKraken) November 22, 2021
Sunday was Cholowski’s debut with the Capitals after he was claimed off waivers from Seattle on Oct. 14. Cholowski’s previous regular season game came May 8 of last season when he was with Detroit.
He was a last-minute addition to the lineup when Sheary was unavailable, playing the game despite not taking part in warmups. He ended up skating 9:57 but took just one shift in the third period.
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