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The Capitals are back in the losing column halfway through their six-game road trip.
The game started off well for the Capitals as captain Alex Ovechkin scored first, sealing his tenth 40-goal season.
After Anaheim followed up and scored twice, Carlson tied it with his ninth goal of the season.
However, Washington quickly fell behind as the Ducks tallied goals three times in the third period, twice on the power play.
Alex Ovechkin only tallied one goal on seven shots Sunday night. Nicklas Backstrom trailed with five shots on goal, none of which were successful.
The Caps defense suffered serious breakdowns tonight, letting Jacob Silvferberg score on a wide open breakaway and Adam Henrique score amidst chaos in front of the net.
Ten different Capitals players gave the puck away at least once tonight, including all but one defenseman (Brooks Orpik). They need to clean up passing and zone coverage in order to make plays count and help out goaltender Braden Holtby, who saved 34 of 39 shots faced tonight.
One thing to take away: the Capitals committed four minor penalties tonight. Head coach Todd Reirden had been docking players from shifts when committing such careless mistakes, but this tactic hasn’t shown much impact on performance yet.
The Ducks had lost eight of their previous nine games. Either the Capitals were ill-prepared for the strain of this trip, or laziness is beginning to seep in.
The highlight you should see:
Tic, tac, 2-1 Ducks. #CapsDucks pic.twitter.com/ZzJlRcexm1
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) February 18, 2019
