"Rotjacken" extend Capitals' losing streak

The Capitals' losing streak continues! Once again, the Austrian capital club failed to capitalize on numerous shots on goal: in Round 20 of the win2day ICE Hockey League, the Vienna Capitals suffered a 2-3 defeat against KAC.

In a physically intense contest, the visitors from Klagenfurt struck first. Travis St. Denis sliced through the Capitals' defense with a crisp pass through the neutral zone, sending Jan Drozg clear.

Despite desperate poke-check attempts from Simon Bourque, Drozg drove all the way to the net and slid the puck on his backhand past Capitals netminder Reideborn (4').

Both sides strike on the power play

Late in the first period, the Viennese found an equalizer on the power play. Konstantin Komarek found plenty of space in the right faceoff circle and hammered the puck home to make it 1-1 (17'/PP). Before the intermission, however, KAC hit back with a power-play goal of their own. Travis St. Denis gave Caps goalie Adam Reideborn no chance with a thunderous one-timer, putting the Klagenfurt side back in front just eleven seconds before the end of the opening frame.

Capitalizing on a defensive lapse by Vienna, Simeon Schwinger extended the lead to 3-1 for the "Rotjacken" in the second period, left completely unmarked in the slot to bury a feed from behind the net with a one-timer.

Capitals push in vain

As so often in recent weeks, the Capitals generated plenty of scoring opportunities but struggled to convert them for long stretches. It was not until the 47th minute that Scott Kosmachuk pulled Vienna back to 2-3. This time, Nick Bailen was not acting as distributor or shooter from the blue line, but screened KAC netminder Florian Vorauer, allowing Kosmachuk to fire home from the right side.

The goal gave the Viennese squad renewed energy. They pinned KAC inside their own zone and pressed hard for an equalizer until the final buzzer—to no avail. It ended 2-3 after 60 minutes, with KAC taking all three points away from Vienna.

KAC sit fourth in the standings with 39 points, while the Capitals remain stuck in eleventh place on 21 points, outside the pre-playoff positions.