The Washington Capitals saw their four-game winning streak end in a 4-3 defeat to the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon. The team’s poor start — a 3-0 hole after 20 minutes — proved too much despite a ferocious comeback attempt in the final two periods.
I don’t think the Caps actually deserved a loss in this game, despite the less-than-ideal first period. That’s just how it goes in the NHL sometimes, though.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2025-10-19
#ALLCAPS
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards.com) October 19, 2025 at 3:18 PM
- The first period wasn’t good — don’t get me wrong — but it wasn’t a 3-0 deficit type of 20 minutes. I think that second goal should always come off the board, considering Kane jams his stick under Lindgren’s glove to keep that play alive, and if that happens, the Canucks don’t get the power play for the failed challenge. After the first, at five-on-five, the Capitals held a 40-9 advantage in shot attempts, an 18-5 advantage in shots, a 23-5 advantage in scoring chances, and a 7-2 advantage in high-danger chances. Thatcher Demko was great for them, and the bounces weren’t kind to the Capitals. It happens.
- Good to see Ryan Leonard immediately reward the coaching staff for putting him out there on the first power-play unit. Leonard scored his second goal of the season with the Capitals up a man, and then was part of the team’s extra-man group at the end of regulation. He had a super active game overall, registering three shots, eight shot attempts, seven individual scoring chances, three individual high-danger chances, a drawn penalty, and four hits.
- Jakob Chychrun played a big part in the comeback attempt, reforming his pairing with John Carlson, a duo that head coach Spencer Carbery likes to go to when the Capitals are chasing a game. Chychrun scored his second goal of the season, giving him five points (2g, 3a) in six games, and recorded 15 shot attempts, including six individual scoring chances.
- I thought Hendrix Lapierre had the best game of his season so far and his best in the NHL in quite some time. He was dynamic with the puck, great on zone entries, and really battled down low in both zones. Outside of his brilliant assist to Chychrun, with Lapierre on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals held positive differentials in shot attempts (+13), scoring chances (+9), and high-danger chances (+3). The Caps did not allow a single Vancouver scoring chance during his minutes.
- I said this in the recap as well, but I don’t think Sonny Milano is long for the Capitals’ lineup. He played just 8:37 of ice time in the loss, the only Caps player under 10 and a half minutes. I would not be surprised to see Ethen Frank against the Kraken on Tuesday night if Pierre-Luc Dubois isn’t back from injury.
- Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves on 23 shots against, allowing .94 more goals than expected, per MoneyPuck. Demko made 27 saves on 30 shots against, stopping 1.4 more goals than expected. That’s the difference right there.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
