WASHINGTON — With Pierre-Luc Dubois out of the mix, the Washington Capitals were left without one of their most important pieces, and it showed.

Despite flashes of strong play and a goal from Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals fell 5-3 to the Kraken.

Here are the takeaways.

Washington has a bit of a slow start to the first period, with the Kraken killing off back-to-back power-play opportunities and the puck bouncing quite a bit. Then, down 1-0, two key players got their firsts to pull the Capitals, playing without Pierre-Luc Dubois due to illness, into the fight.

Jordan Kyrou, starting on a line with Ryan Leonard and Dylan Strome amid Dubois' absence, got his first with D.C. on a nice play. Leonard led the way on the entry for that line and found Cole Hutson, who then sent a cross-ice feed to Kyrou to finally get him on the board.

Minutes later, Alex Ovechkin's first in his final season made it a 2-1 game. Ovechkin skated with the Protas brothers on Sunday, and after a strong forecheck off the entry and a turnover from Aliaksei and Ilya, Ovechkin got the puck on his tape right in front and made no mistake, sniping a quick shot past Joey Daccord.

The goal marked Ovechkin's 930th career goal and 1,007th combined goal including regular season and playoffs, moving him 10 away from passing Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history.

The Capitals had a different look when they started Sunday's game with Pierre-Luc Dubois out, but tweaked their combinations again late in the second as they looked to spark some offense.

Dylan Strome moved up to play between Tom Wilson and Alex Tuch, and Boone Jenner shifted to center Jordan Kyrou and Ryan Leonard. Justin Sourdif went to the fourth line with Anthony Beauvillier and Ethen Frank.

Those combinations proved to ignite a spark, as Jenner tied the game just 46 seconds into the third after keeping the puck in the zone, skating in tight and cashing in on his own rebound. It marked Jenner's second consecutive game with a goal.

Ultimately, though, D.C. lost momentum, and a couple of defensive mistakes late in the third cost Washington, as Jared McCann cut to the middle and beat Thompson in tight to give Seattle the late 4-3 lead. Ryan Winterton then iced the win later.

While the Capitals rallied and found momentum late, it was too little, too late, and Dubois’ absence impacted the group as it struggled to gel.