The Washington Capitals forced overtime against the Winnipeg Jets for the second time this season but again couldn’t find the game-winning goal in the extra frame. The Caps fell 3-2 on Tuesday night after Nikolaj Ehlers potted the winner for Winnipeg.
Another great game between these two teams, and the Caps played well. Good to see.
NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2025-03-25: pic.twitter.com/4XjkhXyn9N
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) March 26, 2025
- The Capitals were really in control of the game at five-on-five in both the first and second periods. Unfortunately, Connor Hellebuyck was in the opposing net, and the Caps received no puck luck from the hockey gods. They lost traction in the third period, where they needed a split second of brilliance from Alex Ovechkin to get the game to overtime. The Caps had held the Jets to just one five-on-five high-danger chance through 40 minutes but then allowed four in the third alone.
- Ovechkin scored his 889th career goal, moving him six markers away from passing Wayne Gretzky for sole possession of the NHL’s all-time goals record. Ovi absolutely dominates the Jets/Thrashers franchise, scoring 10 goals in his last 10 games against them and 57 career goals, which is the most by an active player against one franchise.
- Logan Thompson made 22 stops on 25 shots in the loss, his second overtime defeat against Hellebuyck, his biggest competition for the Vezina Trophy this year. Per MoneyPuck, he allowed 1.31 more goals than expected, which is one of his poorer efforts of the season. I don’t think he was bad. just on the wrong side of the numbers.
van Riemsdyk becomes the sixth Capitals defenseman to reach the 20-point mark this season. It marks the first time in franchise history Washington has had six defensemen with 20 or more points in the same season. https://t.co/Qw5pfzMmg7
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) March 26, 2025
- The Capitals were unbelievably good with Lars Eller on the ice at five-on-five. Like, unreal levels of fantastic. With the Tiger over the boards, they out-attempted Winnipeg 17-0, outshot them 6-0, out-scoring-chanced them 9-0, and out-high-danger-chanced them 2-0. Those zeroes are not typos. Peter has pointed it out in his snapshots, but Eller has really been tremendous since being acquired from the Penguins. He’s not racking up points, but the team has dominated his five-on-five minutes, seeing 54.4 percent of shot attempts, 53.6 percent of expected goals, 54 percent of scoring chances, and 57.1 percent of high-danger chances in 52 games. He’s providing similar, if not better, “on-ice results” than a lot of his first-stint seasons with the Caps.
- Aliaksei Protas recorded another point, extending his point streak to five games. His longest streak this season is six games. He’s on pace for a career-best 74 points (34g, 40a) this season.
- Jakob Chychrun skated 21:19 of ice time in his first game since signing an eight-year extension with the Capitals. He recorded an assist, four shots on goal, eight individual shot attempts, two individual scoring chances, one shot block, and a drawn penalty.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
