The Washington Capitals gave us what is easily the most fun game of their season on Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. A 7-6 shootout victory over one of the best teams in the league in front of a rocking crowd? I’ll take another.
Big win, big two points.
- You really wouldn’t believe it given the scoreline, but as you can see from the above heat map, the Capitals navigated this game well the entire night. Yes, Carolina played the night before but as we saw from the Toronto Maple Leafs and as we’ve seen from the Capitals themselves this season, that doesn’t always mean you’ll get a worse effort from a team. Washington kept the Hurricanes to just three high-danger chances at five-on-five which matches a season-low for Carolina that they’ve only had two other times this year. Some better goaltending and this is a much less chaotic victory.
- That goaltending is going to be a story. Darcy Kuemper got pulled after allowing four goals on 22 shots and has now given up 11 total goals in his two March starts. MoneyPuck had him stopping 1.97 goals fewer than expected bringing his season total down to -5.97. That pushes him to 60th among all goaltenders in the league this season with at least 10 games played.
- On a more positive note, what a game from Sonny Milano. Son Man recorded his first career hat trick and now has nine goals in 15 games since returning from injury on February 17 against the Montreal Canadiens. His 13 goals in 38 games this season would have him on pace for 28 goals over a full 82-game slate.
- Per Capitals PR, since February 8, the Capitals have converted on 23 of 65 power-play opportunities (35.4%), which is the highest power-play percentage in the NHL during that span. They have scored multiple power-play goals in five of their last 14 games.
The Capitals have a 15-7-1 record (.674 P%) against Metropolitan Division opponents this season. Washington has three divisional games remaining (April 4 vs. PIT, April 5 at CAR, April 16 at PHI).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 23, 2024
- Alex Ovechkin added another goaltending victim to his list. Pyotr Kochetkov, who should have been ejected from the game in overtime, is the 175th netminder that Ovechkin has scored on in his career. Since the All-Star Break, The Great Eight is on a 56-goal pace (55.9). The Capitals’ captain has scored 16 goals in his last 23 games. He also eclipsed Joe Thornton for sole possession of 13th on the NHL’s all-time points list with 1,541 career points.
- From one end of the age spectrum with a Russian winger to another. Ivan Miroshnichenko picked up two assists in the win to give him his first multi-point outing in the NHL. Since the start of his second recall, Miro has recorded six points (2g, 4a) in nine games. That’s an over 50-point pace over a full 82-game season.
- Trevor van Riemsdyk is an unsung hero who needs to get more credit. The Capitals absolutely dominated his former team with him on the ice at five-on-five, posting positive differentials in shot attempts (+13), scoring chances (+7), and high-danger chances (+5). In his 17:34 of five-on-five ice time, the Hurricanes did not record a single high-danger chance and the Capitals scored two goals.
- The win moves the Capitals (77 points) within one point of the Detroit Red Wings (78 points) for the second wild card playoff position. The Capitals still have a game in hand on Detroit and the two teams will match up with one another next Tuesday.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
