The Washington Capitals lost to the Dallas Stars 2-1 in what was a very close game. Despite the loss, I did see some good things:

    • Alex Ovechkin is still pretty decent at hockey. Another game, another goal.

  • The penalty kill was once again very good. Stars had zero goals on two powerplay chances.
  • Defense looked better tonight. Connor Carrick looked like a guy who knows he belongs in the NHL. Steve Oleksy gets a tip of the hat for playing on the left side, something that he’s not used to doing. Karl Alzner and Mike Green were their usual selves.
  • Great rebound game from Braden Holtby.

There were, however, some bad things that contributed to the Capitals loss:

  • John Erskine made a critical mistake that led to the Stars first goal. The video:

How did the Stars get such a golden chance? To quote Craig Laughlin, “HOLD IT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!”

John Erskine was horribly out of position, which gave the Stars an easy goal. To the left (on-ice right) is Joel Ward. He's where he needs to be. In that situation, left defenseman needs to jump over to the center.
John Erskine was horribly out of position, which gave the Stars an easy goal. To the left (on-ice right) is Joel Ward. He’s where he needs to be. As is John Carlson (behind the goal). In that situation, left defenseman needs to jump over to cover the center.
  • Second goal was either the fault of the forwards for not getting back on time or Adam Oates’s fault for calling for a line change at the worst possible time. As much as I just ragged on John Erskine, Erskine and Steve Oleksy did the right thing when defending an odd man rush. The video:

Don’t care who is to blame for the forwards not getting back in time, you can’t leave your defense hanging like that, especially not on an odd man rush. If it’s a lack of hustle that caused that second goal, Adam Oates needs to do this next practice:

Overall, an encouraging loss because of how much better the defense played. Offense just had an off-night. Hopefully the defense can build on this performance and continue to play as well as they did against the Stars.