The Washington Capitals played what had to be the wildest game of their season so far against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. The game ended 5-4 in overtime but you need to read Peter’s recap to fully understand what all went down.
Overall, great effort from the Caps…if you just ignore everything special teams.
NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2025-01-30: pic.twitter.com/b8WibWacQu
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) January 31, 2025
- If you took a peek at the stats from this game and just looked at what went on when the action was played five-on-five, you’d think the Capitals had a dominant night. They controlled 67.7 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five and 56.8 percent of the shot attempts. That’s a great sign because, as you all know, we’ve been talking about our concerns with the team’s five-on-five play in recent games.
- However, oh boy, did they have an adventurous night when either team was on a power play. They allowed two shorthanded goals, two shorthanded penalty shots, and only saw 42.3 percent of the expected goals when they were up a man. Re-read that last bit. That’s with them UP A MAN, not on the penalty kill. They also allowed two Ottawa power-play goals. What a mess.
- Alex Ovechkin scored his 23rd goal of the season and had a three-point game (1g, 2a). He is just 18 goals away from tying Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goals record. I thought Ovi showed flashes of his early-season form in this game. He had his legs moving. I think that 4 Nations Face-Off break is going to do him wonders, and we’ll see more of this Ovi down the stretch.
Tom Wilson recorded his 200th career assist on Strome's game-tying goal.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) January 31, 2025
- Connor McMichael is starting to find his game again. He has six points (1g, 5a) in his last six games and recorded five shots on goal against the Senators. He had two games with five shots on goal in the last week after not having one previously since December 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois recorded his 30th assist of the season on McMichael’s goal, extending his point streak to three games. Dubois has now officially surpassed his point total (40) with the Los Angeles Kings last season. He is on pace for a career-best 66 points (18g, 48a).
- Dylan Strome potted two goals, giving him three in his last two games. He is back on the scoresheet in back-to-back games after going six games without a point. Let’s hope this is the start of a big hot streak.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
