The Washington Capitals have ended their big losing streak and did so against one of the league’s best, the Boston Bruins. This was one of those games that makes you wonder where this team has been for a few months.
Pretty interesting few days ahead to see if this was just a blip or a start of some actual momentum.
- Pretty slow game at five-on-five which definitely suits the Capitals more than the Bruins. The two teams combined for just 58 total five-on-five shot attempts and 23 total scoring chances. If you remember in the last game against Florida, the Panthers had 23 five-on-five scoring chances by themselves in just the third period. This was another example of the Capitals getting just one even-strength goal but somehow making it work in a win. Long-term, as we well know by now, that doesn’t work but a win is a win.
- Charlie Lindgren got back to his more regular ways this season after a very rough 2024 to this point. Lindgren stopped all 18 shots he faced to earn his third shutout of the campaign. MoneyPuck says the Bruins created 2.27 expected goals and Lindgren still left spotless.
- Alex Ovechkin scored for the fourth game in a row and now has 15 points (6g, 9a) in his last 14 games. I think we might eventually find something out about Ovechkin’s struggles earlier in the season being injury-related because he has looked a ton more like himself after that long break away from the ice. Ovi’s goal was of the empty net variety, his 57th career empty-net goal, passing Wayne Gretzky (56) for the most in NHL history.
With a goal and assist this afternoon, Alex Ovechkin recorded his eighth multi-point game of the season and the 425th of his career. Ovechkin's 425 career multi-point games are the second most among active players (Sidney Crosby: 458).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 10, 2024
- Really nice night from Rasmus Sandin and that’s good to see because I feel like this has been a pretty rough season for him to this point. With Sandin on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals were +13 in shot attempts, +4 in scoring chances, and +3 in high-danger chances. He was also on the ice for Dylan Strome’s goal.
- Dylan Strome scored that goal to put the Capitals up two late in the game and give himself 20 total markers on the year. He has now reached the 20-goal mark for the third-straight season, proving again to be some of general manager Brian MacLellan’s best, recent work.
- These next two games are going to be huge for the team if MacLellan’s words to Emily Kaplan about them deciding the trade deadline direction are to be taken at face value. They’ll have the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks (34-12-6) at home tomorrow and then host the Colorado Avalanche (32-17-4) on Tuesday. The Avs smacked the Capitals 6-2 at the end of January.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
