"You just can't make egregious mistakes," the Capitals coach said.
"You just can't make egregious mistakes," the Capitals coach said.
WASHINGTON — Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery was blunt and quick to answer what he saw on Sam Reinhart's overtime goal, and it had nothing to do with the Florida Panthers.
It was his own player, Evgeny Kuznetsov, that he noticed most on the opposition’s strike to steal a 4-3 win at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.
“Kuzy out of position,” he said immediately. “He chased down ice and lost the footrace. If you're gonna chase down ice, you just can't get beat. He got beat."
That error cost Washington the extra point, but Carbery noted that it didn't just come down to that. Ultimately, it was several mistakes that led to Washington, who was leading 3-2 going into the third period, to lose control of the game.
"The momentum changes on a couple of turnovers... the second and third was just okay. We made some big, egregious mistakes with the puck that you just can't make against a team like that," Carbery said, adding, "We just made some really, really mind-boggling plays with the puck, decisions with the puck, positional stuff in the second and third period. We had a few looks, but not near to our standard and what we're capable of."
In the third period, the Capitals, who were already feeling fatigued, iced the puck. Then, off the face-off, they missed out on Evan Rodrigues, who snuck backdoor to bury the game-tying goal.
"You're gonna make mistakes. It's hockey, right? It's sports; there's going to be mistakes throughout the game and mismanaged pucks and all that sort of stuff. You just can't make egregious mistakes and those are examples of them where you can't lose the guy on the backside and give up a backdoor tap-in. You can't ice the puck when you're already tired. There's options; at least just go skate behind the net, just stop and just hold and, 'Okay, let me reset here.'"
Washington returns to the ice on Thursday with an 11 a.m. practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.