Washington's form has swung hard. The Capitals had won 3 straight, including a 5-2 win over Philadelphia and a 4-3 decision in Nashville, and then Minnesota came into Capital One Arena and ran them out of the building 5-1. Quinn Hughes and Michael McCarron scored in the first 5:27, the McCarron goal coming off an Ilya Protas turnover, and Jesper Wallstedt stopped 26 of 27. Justin Sourdif's tip of a Cole Hutson shot was the only thing Washington got past him.
Look under the records and you find two teams that haven't been consistent at all. Before Columbus, the Stars had given up 10 goals in back-to-back home losses to New Jersey and Montreal, both by 5s. The Capitals have the same problem at home: 5 allowed to the Kings, 5 allowed to the Wild, and only 3 combined goals of their own in those 2 losses. In between, they put up 4, 5 and 4. When Washington gets going it can score with anybody. When it falls behind early, it hasn't found an answer, and Dallas just won by scoring twice in the 1st period.
Washington's injury list is all on defense. Rasmus Sandin is on long-term IR with a knee injury and Vincent Desharnais is on IR, which leaves Cole Hutson and the rest of a young blue line carrying a lot of the load. Patrick Thomas is also out at center. Neither team is healthy, but Dallas is the one missing scoring forwards, while Washington is missing the guys who stop them.
Puck drop is 7:00 PM ET. Dallas should be in a better place than it was a week ago, with a new forward in the lineup, a defenseman back and Oettinger coming off a sharp night. The open question is whether that Columbus win means the Stars are fixed or just got a soft opponent. Washington is the opposite case: the 3-game run was real, the Wild game was too, and it's still unclear which one is closer to the truth.
