Capitals Should Build on Strong Start Against Stars Despite Disappointing Result

The Washington Capitals came out with a strong start against the Dallas Stars and need to continue building early momentum despite the rough final score Tuesday.

Washington fell to Dallas, 6-5, but early bounces went in every opposite direction from the Capitals and led to an four-goal advantage for the Stars.

The Capitals controlled much of the opening minutes, keeping the puck in the offensive zone and putting pressure on Jake Oettinger. Washington recorded 10 shot attempts before Dallas scored its first goal, but only three reached the net. Five were blocked and two missed the mark.

"I thought our start was exactly how we scripted it and exactly how we wanted to come out," Washington head coach Spencer Carbery said. "We knew it was going to be important, and we did exactly what we wanted to do."

Dallas scored on its first shot on goal, with Joel Kiviranta putting the Stars ahead at 8:56 of the first period. Washington still finished the opening 20 minutes with a 7-6 advantage in shots on goal.

The game quickly got away from the Capitals in the second period. Jason Robertson scored three times in a span of 5:20, giving Dallas a 4-0 lead and forcing Washington to make a change in net. Robertson scored on three of his first four shots, putting the Capitals in a difficult position despite their strong start.

Washington could have folded after falling behind by four goals, but instead put together a strong offensive response. Jordan Kyrou scored on the power play, Boone Jenner added a goal later in the period and Jakob Chychrun scored with 30 seconds remaining to bring the Capitals within two.

"Just the compete level was there. You can feel urgency from that first shift, and we just took it to them, and that's kind of the way we want to play it. Night in, night out, have good starts," Chychrun said.

The Capitals finished with 25 shots on goal, compared to 22 for Dallas. They also converted twice on three power-play opportunities, while the Stars scored once on two chances.

"I thought most of the game, we played a great game, so we just try to stay resilient and stay with it," Kyrou said.

The shot total was a positive sign after Washington struggled to get attempts through against Minnesota on Sunday. The Capitals had 27 shots on goal in that 5-1 loss, but also missed the net on 19 attempts and had 20 shots blocked. Against Dallas, Washington missed the net 13 times and had 18 attempts blocked.

"I think the Minnesota game was different than [Dallas], and I think we did a lot of good things [Tuesday]," Jenner said.

Getting more pucks to the net remains important, especially against teams that do a good job limiting scoring chances. The Capitals showed they could create pressure against one of the league's better defensive teams, but need to turn more of that offensive-zone time into quality opportunities.

"If we're going to take anything out of this, the structural stuff, the X's and O's, tons of good stuff," Carbery said "Forecheck, O-zone, a lot of things that we talk about through the neutral zone."

The five goals were also significant against Oettinger. It was just the second time in seven games that Washington scored more than twice against the Dallas goaltender.

Despite the effort, Carbery noted that the team needs to turn effort into points to reach their full potential.

"We don't believe in moral victories and not getting points in games," he said. "We feel like we're better. We're a better team than that."