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The Caps started out tonight's game with so much promise. Through two periods, they had gone over 100 minutes without surrendering a single goal. Their superstar lit the lamp for the first time in six-plus games and they hadn't taken a single penalty on the evening. Then the Achilles' Heel decided to rear its ugly head. Mike Green and Matt Bradley took successive minors in the first five minutes, allowing the Stars to get back into the game. Whether or not the calls were bad is irrelevant. What is relevant is how bad the Caps' penalty kill was, allowing the Stars to get screens in front of Semyon Varlamov to create goals on both third period opportunities.

Then it got worse.

The head case that is Semyon Varlamov let a James Neal softie slip through him shortly thereafter, and the Stars seemed to steal all the momentum. If not for a superstar effort from Alex Ovechkin to tie the game late in the third, the Caps would have gotten nothing from tonight's game. Either way, here are some thoughts on tonight:

• John Carlson somehow looked iffy on the stat sheet (3 giveaways, 0 takeaways) but he seemed very calm and collected during overtime. He certainly seems to be earning some confidence from his coach with such important ice time.
• Good night for Matt Bradley after being scratched last Thursday. One assist, a plus-one and four hits are exactly what we like to see.
• Speaking of good things, the whole fourth line skated pretty well tonight. Tom Poti reaped the rewards of that early on.
• I thought Joe Corvo looked a lot shakier tonight than in his last two games, personally. Gotta get a stick on Neal's shot late in the third. Giving up two power play goals didn't help his case either.
  
• Jamie Benn is mega fast. Could've sworn he'd be the guy to bury the Caps with the way he skated tonight. He was certainly a man on a mission.
• How Brooks Laich and Alex Semin failed to cash in late in overtime is beyond me...they were flying. Semin didn't show up on the stat sheet but he skated well (for the most part).
• Marty Turco was out of his mind. There's no way the Stars win this game without him.
• This game actually reminded me a bit of the game early last season against the Flyers where the Caps pumped 20+ shots on Antero Niittymaki in the first but failed to score. After they gave their best effort (first two periods tonight), they seemed to let up and didn't have as much in the tank to play the necessary defense when they needed it.

Caps Hero of the Night:

Ovechkin was a beast when needed. Too bad it wasn't quite enough.

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