The Washington Capitals squared off with the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night, looking to start a new point streak at home after falling to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Washington trounced the Blues 8-1 in their prior meeting this season back on November 9.
Philip Broberg opened the scoring with a near tap-in at the back post. Pierre-Luc Dubois made a nice move to his backhand to tie the game. Broberg struck again moments later to put the Blues back up one.
Connor McMichael tied the game at two with a beautiful individual effort. Dylan Holloway and Colton Parayko scored twice just 35 seconds apart to restore the Blues lead. Jake Neighbours notched an empty netter.
Blues beat Capitals 5-2.
- The Capitals started the first period slow, were the better team in the middle of the frame, and then finished it slow. Lars Eller’s third line really struggled, spending all of their shifts in the defensive zone. If there’s an area the Capitals could look to improve at the upcoming trade deadline, it’ll likely be on that line somewhere.
- Tom Wilson was a late scratch due to illness, which meant Jakub Vrana saw his first action since January 6. Taylor Raddysh took Wilson’s spot on the team’s second line, while Vrana was placed on the fourth line next to Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime.
- Philip Broberg had six goals in 127 career NHL games coming into the night’s action. He left the first period with two more. Incredibly poor defensive tracking led to both markers. Charlie Lindgren also didn’t look the best on his Martin Brodeur-esque poke check challenge on the second goal.
— noah (@capsboybebop) February 28, 2025
- The Capitals were having a pretty great period up until Connor McMichael scored the team’s second goal of the game to tie things at 2-2. After that, St. Louis responded with two quick markers, from Dylan Holloway and Colton Parayko. Both tallies didn’t have enough netfront box-outs.
- Spencer Carbery called his timeout to get more looks at Parayko’s goal as Lindgren appeared to be interfered with in his crease. Ultimately, Carbery didn’t go through with a challenge. I think he should have because, as we’ve seen many times this year, the NHL situation room has no idea what they’re doing with goaltender interference and the Blues had dudes in the blue paint.
- We’ve seen the Caps get called for a few bogus too-many-men penalties this season, so how in the world did the Blues avoid one when their sixth skater leaving the ice literally prevented the puck from getting to the neutral zone with his skate? Another officiating inconsistency.
- McMichael’s goal was truly a beauty despite what occurred immediately after the next puck drop. Let’s hope he starts to heat back up and fill up the net like he was early in the season.
Congratulations to Brayden and Luke Schenn on becoming the first pair of brothers in #NHL history to both hit the 1,000 game milestone in the same season.
Brayden crosses the 1,000 mark tonight in Washington. pic.twitter.com/kINqwfQP6e
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 28, 2025
- The Capitals went the first seven minutes of the third period without a shot. They have had way too many stretches like that over the past 40 or so games. The issue has never really been solved.
- Ethen Frank saw a mid-game promotion to the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. Interesting move as Carbery looked to find any five-on-five consistency whatsoever. Frank also recorded his second career assist on McMichael’s goal.
- Washington’s 3-1 loss to Calgary was their first in regulation on home ice since November 23. They’ve now lost two in regulation on home ice in just three days.
Very dapper dudes #JoeBSuitOfTheNight pic.twitter.com/41BbW2EBXh
— RMNB (@rmnb) February 28, 2025
The Capitals will open March up with a matinee matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. The game is the last between the two teams during the regular season.
