The Vegas Golden Knights’ three-game winning streak came to a halt Friday night, as they lost 3-2 to the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena. A slow start proved costly once again, with the Knights falling behind 3-0 before mounting a third-period rally that fell short.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice in the first 3:23 of the second period, and Jakob Chychrun added a goal at 14:52 to give Washington a 3-0 lead. The Knights responded in the third with goals from Braeden Bowman and Tomas Hertl, but could not find the equalizer.

Coach Bruce Cassidy did not mince words afterward, placing the blame squarely on his players. “We weren’t ready to play,” Cassidy said. “I’ve said it: The coach has to prepare your team to play, but this one, the players weren’t ready to play.” He specifically called out the five Olympians—Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Shea Theodore, and Noah Hanifin—who returned to the lineup after playing in Sunday’s gold medal game. “These are high-end players that got to be ready to play,” Cassidy said. “We gave our guys days off. … They’re going to need to be better on Sunday.”

Eichel went 6-of-15 on faceoffs and finished minus-2. Hanifin and Stone were each minus-1. Marner, Stone, and Eichel managed one shot each; Theodore had none. Goaltender Akira Schmid made 23 saves.

Hertl’s goal was his 600th NHL point, while Marner’s secondary assist gave him 800 career points, making him the eighth-fastest active player to reach that mark (715 games).

The Knights’ penalty kill went 5-for-5, including a five-on-three kill in the second period, but it wasn’t enough. “We responded in the third, but it’s happened too many times,” Hertl said. “We struggle for 40 minutes and we come back for the third and have a great push.”