The Washington Capitals stole a point from a shorthanded Minnesota Wild team on Thursday night. Although Washington is not playing their best hockey right now, they are still collecting standings points.
Let’s hope this is just a cold period and they can turn their five-on-five play around.
NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2025-01-02: pic.twitter.com/PMY9SbI4Ay
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) January 3, 2025
- Like I said in the intro, the Capitals really did not have their game at five-on-five again. While they out-attempted Minnesota 60-53, they struggled defending the interior in their own zone, posting negative differentials in scoring chances (-11) and high-danger chances (-10). The Wild also created a bunch with their special teams, amassing 1.23 expected goals.
- In better news, Alex Ovechkin got back in the goal-scoring column. Ovechkin is now just 23 markers shy of a share of the all-time goals record with Wayne Gretzky. The 39-year-old winger, despite missing 16 games with a broken leg, is still on pace to score 54 goals this season.
- Tom Wilson also potted a goal, his 15th of the year. Wilson is on pace for a career-best 32 goals this season and is the fourth Capitals player to hit the 15-goal mark. The Capitals are one of just two teams in the NHL to have four players with 15 or more goals, joining the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Dylan Strome recorded his team-leading 30th assist of the season on Ovechkin's power play goal. Strome has reached the 30-assist mark for the fourth time in his career (also 2022-23: 42a; 2023-24: 40a; 2018-19: 37a).
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) January 3, 2025
- Really tough night for Dylan Strome and the first line. With Strome on the ice at five-on-five, Washington saw negative differentials in shot attempts (-6), scoring chances (-10), and high-danger chances (-7). Spencer Carbery moved Connor McMichael onto that line to try and switch things up recently but I think it might be time to go big and finally try Pierre-Luc Dubois with Ovechkin.
- Martin Fehervary scored his first goal of the season after getting one of his front teeth chopped in half by a high stick. Per the Capitals, Fehervary has recorded four points (2g, 2a) in seven career games against Minnesota, which is tied for the second-most points he has registered against a single opponent.
- Thursday was an absolutely massive day for multiple Capitals prospects. Eriks Mateiko kicked the day off by scoring two goals against Sweden, Ryan Leonard scored two goals for Team USA against Switzerland, Ilya Protas scored four goals and had five points in the OHL, and Petr Sikora scored a goal in Czechia’s win over Canada.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
