The Washington Capitals went up 1-0 halfway through the first period against the St. Louis Blues on a goal from TJ Oshie and didn’t look back from there. After Nathan Walker found a lucky deflection tally off of several bodies in front of Charlie Lindgren, the Capitals responded with three straight markers and wrapped things up early in the third period.
That is now wins in four of their last six before they head out on an important four-game road swing out west.
- The Capitals used a very strong second period to clamp down on the game and seize control of the play at five-on-five. The Blues managed just one high-danger chance in the frame and at five-on-five only fired two shot attempts. Two goals from Nicolas Aube-Kubel and TJ Oshie were the only scoring plays and had the Capitals up 3-1 heading into the third. The game was very low event at five-on-five overall and that suited the leading team in the third as they secured the two standings points.
- TJ Oshie picked up his sixth career hat trick against the team that drafted him in 2005. Per the NHL, only four active US-born skaters have more hat trick games than Oshie. They are Auston Matthews (11), Patrick Kane (9), Cam Atkinson (7), and teammate Max Pacioretty (7). Oshie is riding a four-game point streak and has six points (5g, 1a) in five games since returning from injury.
- Capitals starting goaltender Charlie Lindgren was also a Blues player in the past and burned his former employer. Lindgren stopped 18 of 20 shots he faced to earn his ninth victory of the season. The 30-year-old netminder is now 2-1 in three January starts with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.
Ovechkin has recorded 36 points (19g, 17a) in 25 career games against St. Louis (1.44 P/GP). Ovechkin’s 1.44 points-per-game rate vs. the Blues is the second-highest rate he has recorded against a single franchise (1.68 P/GP vs. Minnesota).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 19, 2024
- I don’t think how effective Max Pacioretty has been since making his Capitals debut can be understated. Patches added two assists to his season ledger in this one and now has five points (1g, 4a) in his last six games. He’s just one of those players who rarely makes a mistake and seems to always be around the puck. His addition to the top power-play unit has also been very noticeable and very welcome.
- Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin are now tied for the team lead in scoring with 28 points. Ovechkin grabbed an assist on Strome’s goal to extend his point streak to seven games. Strome had a two-point night, his sixth multi-point effort of the season.
- Another game with a whole boatload of minutes for John Carlson. The Capitals’ number one defender skated 27:40 of ice time in the win. He has skated over 27 minutes in three of his last four outings and 17 total games so far this season.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
