The Washington Capitals ended their 2024 preseason with a 2-0 victory on home ice over the Boston Bruins. Washington finished 3-3 in their six exhibition games and will now have a whole week off before they get their regular season underway.
Aliaksei Protas and Trevor van Riemsdyk found the back of the net for the good guys. Charlie Lindgren earned his first win in his second preseason start — a 17-save shutout.
- The Capitals iced what could be the entirety of their Opening Night lineup against a Bruins team full of depth players and roster hopefuls. The result was Washington dominating all aspects of the five-on-five play, finishing the game plus-28 in shot attempts, plus-15 in scoring chances, and plus-9 in high-danger chances. The five-on-five expected goals were 2.85 for the Capitals and just 0.93 for the Bruins..
- Andrew Cristall was the one Capitals player in the team’s lineup who may not be involved against the New Jersey Devils on October 12. The 19-year-old winger got his last chance to impress head coach Spencer Carbery and started the game strong but seemed to fade down the stretch. He did not record a point in a preseason game for the first time in his short NHL preseason career. Cristall finished with two shots on goal, three individual shot attempts, two individual scoring chances, one individual high-danger chance, and two hits.
- The coaching staff got a decent look at their power play in the win, spending 4:38 up a man. They did not convert on any of their three chances but seemed to be moving the puck around quicker and with some urgency, which is different from past seasons. Alex Ovechkin recorded one shot during his 4:01 of power-play ice time.
- Nic Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, and Taylor Raddysh have formed instant chemistry on the club’s fourth line. Despite getting zero offensive zone shift starts, the Capitals held majorly positive differential in shot attempts (+12), scoring chances (+6), and high-danger chances (+2) with Dowd on the ice at five-on-five. The trio was not on the ice for a single high-danger chance against and helped set up TVR for the second goal.
- Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson looked excellent together as the Capitals’ top defense pairing, moving the puck constantly in the right direction. Washington dominated offensively with Chychrun on the ice at five-on-five, recording 12 scoring chances and seven high-danger chances. They did not give up a high-danger chance the other way.
- The Capitals’ most active forward was Connor McMichael. The 23-year-old had four shots on goal, six individual shot attempts, five individual scoring chances, four individual high-danger chances, and drew a penalty. He combined well with Pierre-Luc Dubois, who made several defense-splitting passes to the fleet-footed winger.
- Lindgren posted probably one of the easiest shutouts of his professional career, only needing to stop 17 shots. Boston never recorded more than eight shots in a period and only had two through the first 20 minutes.
- Andrew Mangiapane had his most noticeable game of the preseason. The top line’s right wing was set up for a breakaway chance, fired three shots, and drew a penalty.
The Capitals will have Sunday off before moving to Capital One Arena for two days of practice to start next week. Washington needs to submit their final roster on Monday at 5 pm. They must still cut three more players from the 26 on their preseason roster.
