It's not that Kolzig was bad. But with his teammates leaving pucks and opponents unattended in front of him and hardly challenging Whalers goalie Mike Liut, Kolzig and the Capitals went down to defeat, 4-1, in front of 10,812 at the Hartford Civic Center.

In handing the Capitals (1-2) their second consecutive loss, the Whalers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on two goals by Paul MacDermid and one by Ray Ferraro. Steve Leach scored for the Capitals to slice the Hartford lead, but former Capital Ed Kastelic restored the three-goal advantage in the second period.

Capitals Notes: Washington's next game will be Friday night against the New York Rangers at Capital Centre. . . . [Bryan Murray] chose to go with Chris Felix over Brian Tutt as his sixth defenseman tonight. . . . This was Kelly Miller's 200th regular season game as a Capital. . . . Steve Leach's brother, Jay, is a Whalers assistant coach. . . . The possibility of 61-year-old Hall of Famer Gordie Howe returning to the ice for a game was a hot topic of discussion here, principally because this is where Howe would play. But Howe told the Hartford Courant he initially said it as a "joke." Howe's wife, Colleen, who manages Gordie Howe Enterprises, did not expect it to happen, but didn't completely rule it out. "Do we want to do it? We might. But it would have to be absolutely right. We don't use the mud system-throw it against the wall and see if it sticks. No, it would have to be right." . . . The Whalers have been carrying three goalies because they can't figure out which one they want and none has been outstanding. Besides the 34-year-old Liut, Peter Sidorkiewicz, who had a 3.03 goals-against average in 44 games last year, and rookie Kay Whitmore are still with the club. The 22-year-old Whitmore is reported to be the goalie of the future, but the problem is the present.