Twelve days ago the Capitals skated onto the Verizon Center ice and suffered a familiar fate: a loss at the end of a strong performance from New York Islanders’ goaltender Jaroslav Halak. But every hockey game’s outcome has at least two components: goals scored, in which Halak played a very real part, and goals against, in which Halak had no say.
Dmitry Orlov, however, made two obvious mistakes that led directly to two Islanders’ goals. And while the Caps lost that game, and Orlov had to stand in front of the bouquet of microphones in a morose home locker room and shoulder the night’s blame, there was a tangible silver lining.