WASHINGTON — Coming off a single of their most uplifting wins of the season, the Capitals failed to make on their momentum Friday as a series of odd-man rushes and breakaways permitted the St. Louis Blues to safe a five-two victory at Capital A single Arena.
The Capitals (33-30-7) have faced lengthy odds for a playoff spot more than the final two months. They appeared to breathe some life into their postseason probabilities Wednesday with a comeback win more than the Buffalo Sabres that goaltender Charlie Lindgren described as “the very best-feeling win all year.”
Regrettably for Washington, these fantastic feelings didn’t carry more than into Friday’s game. The Blues (30-33-five) grabbed the lead significantly less than two minutes into the contest and in no way trailed. They kept discovering methods to get behind the Capitals’ defense, scoring every of their initially 3 targets without having any opposing skaters standing among netminder Darcy Kuemper and the aim-scorer.
What did carry more than was the Capitals’ turnover difficulty. Just after recording 18 giveaways against Buffalo, they committed a further 17 with St. Louis taking the turnover margin 26-20 all round. The Capitals entered play Friday tied for the 12th highest price of giveaways per game in the NHL at 9.16, although that quantity has risen to 12.06 because Feb. 1 — 31st in the league more than that span.
The Capitals scored a pair of targets in the third period off the sticks of Martin Fehervary and Nicklas Backstrom, but it was as well late of a push to turn the outcome about prior to a Blues empty-netter iced the game. Backstrom’s tally came on a six-on-four scenario with Kuemper pulled, the second time in as a lot of games the Capitals scored with the two-man benefit.
Twelve games stay on the Capitals’ schedule and it is going to take a historic run down the stretch for them to make the playoffs. They’ll appear to get such a streak began Sunday when they travel to take on the Minnesota Wild, who are playing without having injured star left wing Kirill Kaprizov.