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Luongo Clamps Down on Caps Again
Washington's Boyd Gordon (15) has his shot stopped by Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo as Mason Raymond helps.
(John Mcdonnell - The Post)
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If there was one positive for the Capitals -- and it was a small one considering the defeat -- they did score two goals with the man advantage. It was their first multiple power-play goal game since February, a stretch of 26 games.
With defenseman Tom Poti out of the lineup with a strained groin muscle, and the power play ranked 28th (4 for 39), Hanlon and his staff used the occasion to make a radical change to his power-play strategy, stacking one unit with five forwards.
Although it worked twice, Hanlon said he doesn't envision using the setup again against the Blues, particularly with Clark's availability in doubt.
"After giving up two penalty kill goals, it would be nice to have night where both the penalty kill and the power play are hitting on all cylinders," Hanlon said. "We just have to get the job done on the penalty kill."
Two days after snapping a four-game slide with a 5-3 victory over Tampa Bay, the Capitals committed mental miscues in the first period that led to a pair of Canucks goals.
First, Vancouver's Daniel Sedin gathered a loose puck and snapped it past Kolzig on the power play only 2:11 into the game to put the Canucks ahead 1-0. Clark had been sent off for interference less than a minute before Sedin's strike.
The Capitals' revamped power-play unit evened things at 8:45, when Michael Nylander dug out the puck from a morass of skates and flipped it past Luongo to make it 1-1.
Moments later, though, a misplayed puck along the boards wound up on the stick of Pyatt, who controlled a bouncing puck in front and beat Kolzig, who didn't appear to be expecting a shot, making it 2-1.
