The Washington Capitals got back in the win column in an impressive showing on Thursday night. The Caps made light work of the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, securing a 4-0 shutout victory at Capital One Arena.
Much, much better, but I will temper my celebrations because the Leafs are awful. Good win to get back on track nonetheless. They all count the same.
- Really great five-on-five effort, especially in the first and third periods. After two really shoddy defensive games on the road, the Capitals limited the Maple Leafs to just four total five-on-five high-danger chances, half of those coming in the second frame. This game felt more like the Caps of about a month ago, which is a good thing.
- Logan Thompson stopped all 22 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season. According to MoneyPuck, he saved 1.86 more goals than expected. He is now 14-7-3 on the season with a 2.00 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage, and two shutouts. He has to be the favorite for the Vezina Trophy right now.
- Jakob Chychrun scored two goals to give him 14 markers in 34 games this season. He is on pace for 34 goals, which would make him just the 10th defender in NHL history to score 30 goals in a single season. Two former Capitals defenders, Mike Green (31) and Kevin Hatcher (34), are two of the blueliners on that list.
- The penalty kill went a perfect five-for-five in the win. In a perfect world, the Capitals are never shorthanded that often in any game, but the PK was truly impressive. No goals for the power play, but it looked far better than it has in recent games.
- I thought Justin Sourdif was the best player on the ice for either team. The rookie center skated 14:04 of ice time, recorded two assists, and went 6-6 in the faceoff dot. In his direct five-on-five matchup against Auston Matthews, the Capitals saw positive differentials in shot attempts (+9), shots on goal (+4), scoring chances (+4), high-danger chances (+2), and goals (+2). The Maple Leafs did not record a single shot attempt, shot, scoring chance, high-danger chance, or goal with both players on the ice. Wow.
- Aliaksei Protas scored his 11th goal of the season, and all 11 have come at even strength. He might be the best pure even-strength in the history of the league (this is a joke).
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