The Washington Capitals were back on home ice on Thursday night as they hosted the Dallas Stars after a five-game road trip out west. The homecoming was looking good halfway through regulation but the Capitals could not hold a two-goal lead and ultimately fell in a shootout.
While they didn’t exactly play very well again, that felt like thrown away points.
- The Capitals had another game where they got dominated in shot attempts (41 to 69) and scoring chances (20 to 32) at five-on-five but were able to keep the high-danger chance battle close (8 to 9). At this point, I’ve gotta believe that’s a purposeful strategy whether I agree with it or not. I personally think it’s a terrible way to win hockey games but Spencer Carbery may believe that’s the best or only way his current roster can play to rack up standings points right now.
- Alex Ovechkin is without a goal for eight games but did grab an assist on one of Dylan Strome’s goals. That assist was Ovi’s 1,500th career point, making him just the 16th player in NHL history to reach that milestone. He is only the fifth player in NHL history to record all of his 1,500 points while playing for one franchise in his career.
- Aliaksei Protas extended his team-lead in five-on-five scoring to 10 points (3g, 7a) and Connor McMichael now sits in sole possession of second place on the team with his eight points (3g, 5a). Fantastic news for the team’s development process but also concerning in a lot of other areas because two children are carrying them at even strength.
Aliaksei Protas recorded the secondary assist on Kuznetsov's goal, his second point of the game (1g, 1a). It marks Protas' fourth multi-point game of the season, which is tied with Alex Ovechkin for the most on the team.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 8, 2023
- Dylan Strome potted two goals in the game to reach the double-digit total on the season (10) and the 100 mark in his career. Strome is the team leader in goals through 23 games and is now on pace for 35 over a full 82-game slate.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov got back into the lineup for his 700th career NHL game and promptly scored a goal. Good to see that from Kuzy, who became the second Capital this season to score in their 700th career game after Tom Wilson did so against the Anaheim Ducks.
- Not the best night for Charlie Lindgren as he took the loss in a 34-save effort. Lindgren stopped almost a full goal (0.91) less than expected in the game.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
