The Washington Capitals appear to have some of their early-season mojo back. After a big-time win on the road against the Detroit Red Wings, the Caps scored four unanswered goals in a huge comeback victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
What an outrageous win. And, it was a deserved one.
- Against one of the typically top five-on-five teams in the NHL, the Capitals put together what was one of their best games of the season. While that may be hard to believe considering they were down 3-0 at one point in the game, the Caps were never behind the eight ball analytically throughout regulation, finishing on top in shot attempts 64-48, shots on goal 33-20, scoring chances 33-18, high-danger chances 16-8, and expected goals 3.8-2.28. For context, the Hurricanes have been out-attempted at five-on-five in just six total games this season. The Capitals will win most of their games if they play like that.
- With the Capitals’ defense corps put together with tape and popsicle sticks at the moment, Jakob Chychrun was heavily leaned on in the win. He played 28:01 of ice time, his second-highest single-season total this year, and recorded two points (1g, 1a), six shots on goal, 11 shot attempts, four individual scoring chances, one individual high-danger chance, and one shot block. Chychrun scored his 19th goal of the season to force the game to overtime and is now tied with Zach Werenski for the most goals among NHL defensemen.
- Dylan Strome has really turned it on when his team desperately needed it, recording nine points (5g, 4a) in his last seven games. He also remains incredible in the faceoff dot, winning 15 of hsi 22 draws against Carolina.
- Clay Stevenson was shaky early on, but finished strong to earn his first career NHL win. The rookie netminder made 19 stops on 22 shots faced, and per MoneyPuck, only allowed 0.2 more goals than expected. More than fine for a spot start out of nowhere. In 24 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears this season, Stevenson is 11-8-3 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.
- Hendrix Lapierre scored his second goal of the season to get the Capitals back into the game, and they didn’t look back from there. He still only played 6:13 of ice time in the win. Sonny Milano notched the primary assist on Lapierre’s goal. Per the Capitals, Milano’s 10 points (6g, 4a) in 15 career games against Carolina are the most that he has registered against a single opponent in his career.
- Justin Sourdif was the Capitals’ overtime hero, scoring his first career extra-frame goal. He is just the fifth rookie in franchise history to score an overtime goal and the first since Evgeny Kuznetsov on March 26, 2015. With Sourdif on the ice during five-on-five play, the Caps owned heavily positive differentials in shot attempts (+10), shots (+3), scoring chances (+10), and high-danger chances (+5). Carolina did not record a single five-on-five high-danger chance with Sourdif over the boards.
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