The Washington Capitals were tough luck losers at home on Thursday night to the Dallas Stars so two points would have done them a world of good against the Toronto Maple Leafs two days later. They got just that with an eventual 5-2 final score.

Big win.

• I was pretty darn happy with the overall effort in this game against a Leafs team that has won a whole ton of games over their last twenty or so. The stat sheet has the five-on-five scoring chances lopsided in Toronto’s favor 37 to 22 but as I said in the recap I don’t really buy that at all. I always feel stupid questioning stuff like that though because it’s just math at the end of the day but it really didn’t feel like the Caps were getting dominated like that when watching. Probably, because they weren’t.
• However, Charlie Lindgren‘s efforts must still be praised. Chuck came up with another win, this time stopping 34 of 36 shots he faced. MoneyPuck had him saving 1.2 goals above expected in the outing which was far better than the -2.3 that Ilya Samsonov pitched in the opposing net.
• The big story of the evening was Erik Gustafsson scoring his first three goals of the season and first three with the Capitals in the same game after not scoring in 31 games prior. He’s only the third Caps defenseman in franchise history to record a hat trick and the first since Sergei Gonchar in 2000. Only he and San Jose’s Erik Karlsson have hat tricks from the blue line in the NHL this season.

With a 5-2 win tonight against Toronto, the Capitals improve to 16-1-1 when scoring three or more goals this season.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 18, 2022

• Sonny Milano recorded three assists in the victory. Milano now has 14 points in 20 games since the Caps acquired him in free agency for basically free dollars and free-fty cents. If he were to keep up that pace over a full 82-game NHL slate, he’d put up 57 total points. This is a guy that Calgary cut from a PTO in the preseason and every team let go through waivers once he signed in DC.
• I thought Nick Jensen had an incredibly good game. He was noticeable in all three zones and really pushed the pace against a team that loves to play that style of hockey. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Caps held positive differentials in shot attempts (+1), scoring chances (+4), and high-danger chances (+4).
• Not a whole lot going on for Alex Ovechkin in this one as he’s still looking to chase down Gordie Howe. Only two shots on goal and four total shot attempts for The Great Eight.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.