The Washington Capitals had only one goal for almost the entirety of regulation but still managed to bring home a 2-0 win over the Anaheim Ducks thanks to their defense and goaltending. The lack of offense is still an obvious, huge issue but two points are two points.
That’s the season series done with Anaheim. The Capitals took both games.
- The Capitals held the Ducks to just four total high-danger chances at five-on-five. If you’re going to try and win with just one goal, that’s the sort of defensive effort you need to provide. That is the fewest number of five-on-five high-danger chances the Capitals have allowed to a team in a game this season, matching their efforts in a early October loss to the Senators. They somehow lost that game to Ottawa 6-1 though.
- Ethan Bear scored his first-ever goal with the Capitals. The marker was Bear’s first in 366 days. TJ Oshie grabbed the primary assist on the goal which extended his point streak to three games.
- Spencer Carbery tried something a little different in this game and gave Connor McMichael’s line a handful of the defensive zone starts. That line excelled in their five-on-five minutes despite that, seeing positive differentials in shot attempts (+7), scoring chances (+3), and high-danger chances (+1). They were not on the ice together for a single Anaheim high-danger chance and played the most five-on-five minutes of any of the team’s forward lines. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s something Carbery goes to more down the stretch or if it was just a game-specific decision because the Ducks are not very good.
Tom Wilson scores his 12th goal of the season on an empty net to extend the lead to 2-0. It marks Wilson’s 11th career goal against Anaheim, which is tied with Pittsburgh for the most goals he has scored against a single franchise.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 17, 2024
- Darcy Kuemper posted his first shutout of the season, stopping all 24 shots he faced in the contest. Per the Capitals, Kuemper’s 31 career shutouts are the eighth-most among active goaltenders.
- I thought Max Pacioretty was again one of the team’s best skaters. He really has just gotten better and better as he’s had more ice time under his belt. In the win, he recorded three shots on net, four individual scoring chances, and one individual high-danger chance. His play kinda makes me wish the Capitals had tried acquiring him a little earlier in his career. Super heady, smart winger with a wicked shot.
- Alex Alexeyev played in his first game since all the way back on November 24 and actually ended up skating the fifth-most minutes on the team overall and fourth-most among defensemen. While Anaheim is weak competition, the team was great with double-A on the ice at five-on-five. They didn’t give up a high-danger chance with him over the boards.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
