The Washington Capitals lost 3-2 to the Winnipeg Jets in a shootout on Thursday night at Verizon Center.
After more than fifty minutes of scoreless play, the Caps finally got on the board on a power play goal by Alex Ovechkin. Winnipeg's Tobias Enstrom was sent to the box for a dubious slashing call. Enstrom snapped Matt Hendricks's stick in half in retaliation after the Capitals forward had slashed down on Enstrom's stick twice prior. It didn't take long for Washington to capitalize on the man advantage, as Ovechkin took a ricochet off the board behind the net and buried a shot from the bad angle to beat Ondrej Pavelec.
Just three minutes later, Semin and Ovechkin would hook up again on the power play to give Washington a two-goal lead. Hendricks drew the penalty yet again, as Bryan Little was sent off for a double minor after high-sticking Hendricks and drawing blood. Again, it took only seconds for Washington to capitalize. This time, it was Ovechkin feeding Semin with a perfect pass through the defense. Semin cut to the back post and easily put it into the back of the net. It was an amazing pass to Semin for what was, surprisingly, his first power play goal of the season.
Looking to cut into the lead with a rare 6-on-3 advantage, the Jets finally got on the board with two minutes remaining. With traffic in front, Andrew Ladd was pushed into Tomas Vokoun by Karl Alzner and Evander Kane poked in the rebound to cut the Caps lead in half. Just seconds later, the Jets evened it up at 2-2 on a flukey goal by Dustin Byfuglien from center ice that took a crazy bounce of a Washington defenseman's stick, leaving Vokoun no chance.
A scoreless overtime gave way to a shootout. Alex Oveckin led off with a well-timed shot through the five-hole of Pavelec. Blake Wheeler responded with a similar move, putting it right through the legs of Vokoun on the backhand. After Semin was stuffed, Bryan Little gave Winnipeg the the advantage heading into the third round. Pavelec then stopped a Matthieu Perreault backhand to end it and give Winnipeg the two points.
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