The Washington Capitals earned just one point on their quick two-game road trip against Western Conference competition. The team’s latest loss, a 4-2 defeat, came to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.
Pretty great effort, all things considered. Just how it goes sometimes.
- The Capitals dominated this game at five-on-five, out-attempting Minnesota 64-35 and controlling 60.9 percent of the expected goals. They didn’t give up a single high-danger chance in the third period. Filip Gustavsson was the difference for the Wild, saving 0.61 more goals than expected in the game.
- Charlie Lindgren wasn’t horrible, but he was also probably the difference in the Capitals being down 3-2 instead of up one late in the third. Per MoneyPuck, he gave up 1.71 more goals than expected. He made 18 total saves on 21 shots faced.
- The other big factor in the loss was the team’s ineptitude on their power play. The Caps went 0-for-2, extending their power-play goal drought to 10 games. They only recorded one shot attempt and zero shots on goal on their first-period attempt. Not great. On the flip side, Minnesota converted on one of their two opportunities.
- Brandon Duhaime returned to Minnesota and burned his former team with his ninth goal of the season. With the goal, he matched his previous single-season career high in goals, which he set with the Wild during the 2022-23 campaign.
- Jakob Chychrun had a super busy night, playing 22:28 of ice time and recording six shots on goal, 16 individual shot attempts, three individual scoring chances, one minor penalty, and one hit. The 16 shot attempts are the most he’s ever had in a single game.
- Thursday night’s game drew the Capitals even with the Winnipeg Jets in games played (72). The Caps are up one standings point (103) on the Jets (102) in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy. Winnipeg plays the New Jersey Devils on Friday night while the Capitals are off.
