The Washington Capitals did not let their first losing streak of the season extend to three games. Washington put together a defensive masterclass against the Florida Panthers on Monday night, securing a 4-1 victory on the road.
Maybe every road trip should be a Mentors’ Trip. The boys looked good.
- The Capitals took the lead in the first two minutes of the third period and put a vice grip on the Panthers from there. Florida could not come up with anything offensively as they tried to battle back from behind, recording just six shot attempts, two scoring chances, and zero high-danger chances at five-on-five in the final frame. I called it near perfection only due to the one minor penalty that Washington took in the period but even then, the Panthers managed just one shot on goal in their 1:23 of power play time.
- Jakob Chychrun was the star of the show in his return to the state where he was born. The 26-year-old rearguard recorded three points (1g, 2a) in the win, marking the eighth time in his career that he has had a three-point game. Washington was flat-out dominant with him on the ice at five-on-five, seeing positive differentials in shot attempts (+18), scoring chances (+9), and high-danger chances (+5).
- Spencer Carbery mixed up his forward lines to start a game for the first time this season, and I thought all but the first line was really great. The trio of Aliaksei Protas, Dylan Strome, and Tom Wilson was still a net positive but they don’t have the same jump they did when Alex Ovechkin was patrolling one of the wings. They were on the ice for Florida’s lone goal and didn’t record a high-danger chance at five-on-five.
- Ivan Miroshnichenko scored his first goal of the season and the third of his career into an empty net. The young Russian was deployed in an unfamiliar fourth-line role and fired just that one shot on goal and threw two hits. He skated 9:53 of ice time in the win, 57 seconds more than he did when he was on the team’s top line against the New Jersey Devils last Saturday.
- Lars Eller scored his first two goals since being traded back to the Capitals. Eller’s line was Washington’s best in the game, with the team seeing positive differentials in shot attempts (+13), scoring chances (+7), and high-danger chances (+2) in their five-on-five minutes. They did not allow a Florida high-danger chance when they were on the ice.
- Logan Thompson continued his run of being one of the top goaltenders in the NHL this season. Thompson made 20 stops, improving his record to 9-1-1 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage. Per MoneyPuck, he stopped another 1.48 goals above expected, which should see him leap into the top five in that stat among all goaltenders in the league.
- Monday night’s win was Washington’s first in the regular season against Florida since November 26, 2021. It was their first win on the road against Florida since November 7, 2019, and their first regulation road win against Florida since January 25, 2018. Names in the Capitals’ lineup for that latter win include many eventual Cup champs like Jay Beagle, Andre Burakovsky, Alex Chiasson, Brett Connolly, Chandler Stephenson, Jakub Vrana, Madison Bowey, Christian Djoos, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, and Braden Holtby.
