The Washington Capitals picked up another win to go 2-0 on this final homestand before the holiday break. Washington held on to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on the back of another great offensive performance from Aliaksei Protas.
Let’s hope they have some left in the tank for the Boston Bruins later tonight. Going into the break on a high would be cool.
NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-12-22: pic.twitter.com/QIpZ4x62vF
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) December 23, 2024
- The Capitals got off to a good start against a tired Kings team, preventing LA from creating a single high-danger chance in the first 20 minutes. They faded down the stretch, though, getting doubled up in high-danger chances in the final two periods, 8-4. Overall, I thought the defensive effort was fine. There were some individual errors and small breakdowns, but they held the fort well.
- Logan Thompson was a big part of that. He stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced in his 13th win of the season. He improved to 13-2-2 with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. Per MoneyPuck, he saved 1.58 goals above expected, jumping above 10 total this year.
- Aliaksei Protas added two more goals to his ledger, giving him 29 points (14g, 15a) through 33 games. He has tied his previous career-high in points (29) that he set last year in 78 games. Protas has 23 five-on-five points (9g, 14a), which ranks tied for ninth in the league with Nathan MacKinnon.
Washington has allowed two or fewer goals against in seven of their last nine games.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 23, 2024
- Pierre-Luc Dubois had a nice revenge game against his former team. The big center recorded two primary assists, extending his point streak to three games. He has 11 points (3g, 8a) in his last 10 games and leads the Capitals in points in December (9).
- Dylan Strome does not have a point in his last three games for just the second time this season. Both occasions have come after Alex Ovechkin’s injury. He’ll probably be very happy to see Ovi back at the end of the week.
- The Capitals have the best points percentage in the league (.727) with their 23-8-2 record.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
