Hendrix Lapierre went 90 consecutive games without a scoring goal before ending his calamitous streak on January 23 against the Calgary Flames.
Lapierre has only accelerated his production since then, posting three points in the last five games.
His latest triumph came in the Washington Capitals’ 4-3 overtime win over the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. Down 3-0, Lapierre ignited the Capitals’ comeback, lighting the lamp 7:52 into the second period. And it took quite an individual effort.
Set up just outside the crease, Lapierre redirected a Sonny Milano shot from the sideboards, which gave Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen fits. Lapierre picked up the rebound and shot again, but Andersen made another save. However, the puck squirted through his pads, giving the Capitals’ centerman a layup on his third shot attempt.
“It’s a good play by Sonny,” Lapierre said. “I was calling for it. I knew I was by myself pretty much. He made a great shot. And then I got fortunate enough that it was loose.”
Lapierre’s line, consisting of Brandon Duhaime and Milano on the wings, started the game a minus-two after being on the ice for Mark Jankowski and Shayne Gostisbehere’s goals in the first and second periods, respectively.
“They’re dejected because we’re playing well,” Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said. “Couple bad breaks, nothing they’re a product [of]. So what do they do? They get the big goal off a faceoff. I give them an O-zone start. They score a big goal. They draw two penalties tonight. So those are great situations of where your fourth line arguably turns the tide and grabs us momentum.”
“It’s nice to see the puck go in, especially a goal like today where we kind of maybe needed something,” Lapierre said. “I felt we were playing really well, but we were down three and it was kind of like, ‘What’s going on? Like, why are they getting all the balances?’ And so, yeah, it was good considering the circumstances.”
Dylan Strome and Jakob Chychrun would then tie the game in regulation, and Justin Sourdif won it in overtime, giving the Capitals their first back-to-back victories since December 3.
Speaking with reporters, a proud Lapierre said that his “belief never went away” of his game translating to the NHL, despite his woeful dashboard stats both last season and at the start of the 2025-26 campaign. He also credited the vibes he had recently received from one of his biggest and also tiniest fans inside the locker room.
While Lapierre talked about the Capitals’ difficult schedule of late, Tom Wilson walked in, carrying in his one-year-old son Teddy under his arm.
“…And my friend Teddy here has arrived,” Lapierre said mid-answer smiling.
Lapierre then tried to get Teddy, who has already shown an interest in hockey, to conduct his first NHL press conference.
“Teddy!” Lapierre said. “Teddy, you want to answer a couple questions?”
“Say, go Lappy!” Wilson urged his son.
“Go Lappy!” Teddy replied seconds later.
“Yay!” Lapierre replied. “That’s my friend Teddy. He’s been doing a couple pregame pump-up speeches for me in the last couple. Maybe that’s what clicked, actually. Needed a little Wilson magic.”
Last week after Lapierre scored his first goal of the season, Wilson revealed that Teddy has already gravitated toward certain younger players on the team.
“[Lapierre] and Leno are my kid’s favorite players, so Teddy’s going to be fired up when he wakes up tomorrow and sees that Lappy scored a goal,” Wilson said then. “Yeah, just an awesome person, and the guys love [Lapierre].”
Once Tom and Teddy left the locker room, Lapierre had one last thing to say — this time focusing on the Caps’ play of late.
“It’s the start of something special, obviously.”
