After not having a shootout in the 2024 portion of their schedule, the Washington Capitals had games decided in the skills competition twice in three outings to start January 2025. And they did not look good.
The Capitals went 1 for 7 in their shootout attempts and lost both games, featuring a changing lineup and unconventional choices.
Jan. 2 vs. the Minnesota Wild
❌ Dylan Strome
❌ Pierre-Luc Dubois
❌ Alex Ovechkin
Jan. 6 vs. the Buffalo Sabres
✅ Pierre-Luc Dubois
❌ Dylan Strome
❌ John Carlson
❌ Jakob Chychrun
The Capitals’ shootout lineup featured only two constants in both games, Pierre-Luc Dubois (PLD scored the only shootout goal) and Dylan Strome. In the team’s second shootout against Buffalo, Spencer Carbery picked veteran offensive defensemen, John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun, in consecutive big spots. Neither player scored and the Capitals lost to the Sabres, the Eastern Conference’s worst team. Big goal-scoring forwards like Connor McMichael, Jakub Vrana, Aliaksei Protas, and Tom Wilson never got opportunities.
When RMNB asked Carbery about his philosophy toward the sometimes game-deciding competition after Wednesday’s morning skate, the Capitals head coach admitted the 2024-25 team hasn’t found its rhythm since shootout mainstays TJ Oshie (LTIR), Evgeny Kuznetsov (trade), and Nicklas Backstrom (LTIR) moved on. Thus, he’s been tinkering and trying to find the right lineup.
The head coach, who has been getting Jack Adams Award chatter this season, was kind enough to run through his decision-making lately so fans could better understand his thinking. The only player, Carbery said, who has a guaranteed spot at this point, is Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Spencer Carbery: Yeah, we won’t be sticking with what we went with (against Buffalo) because it was unsuccessful. The shootout, okay so I’ll explain it like this: for so many years the shootout order in Washington was an absolute staple and there was a process to it. It was simple. It was TJ Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Backstrom or Ovi.
Move forward now, 2023-24. So even last year a little bit, Osh and Kuz were there for a bit, but then they started to be out of the lineup. So now we’re looking for shooters, okay?
Stromer sort of comes into the fold. Scores a couple goals late in the year. I think he was two for six last year. I think he’s two for 12 or two for 13 in his career now. Stromer was a good option for us. He scored last year so he starts to get a little bit hot.
After that it became Sonny Milano a little bit. John Carlson shot — as we got deeper he scored once, got a shootout winner last year. And his career average is pretty good if you go through our whole team. Mikey shot three times, went 0 for 3. Pro has never shot. So what I’m getting at is, we’re still sorting through that. Of what that looks like.
So Vrana actually has a decent [record], so when he’s in the lineup he’s a good option to have a shooter. Now, one thing I will say with V that you’ve got to be careful with is, if a player doesn’t play for a long time in a game, i.e. doesn’t play the last 10 minutes of the third period, doesn’t play overtime, sometimes as a coach it’s a feel thing. I won’t put a player in a spot like that because he hasn’t touched the puck in 30 minutes of real time and you’re asking him to go win a hockey game. Sometimes [it’s a difficult spot] to put a player in.
So V sometimes you have to be careful with that. Long winded way of saying that we’re evaluating shooters. We put a lot of thought into it. We look at career percentages, recent percentages. [Ovechkin] is 0 for his last 11, so you’re like, ‘I want to use him. He’s the greatest goal scorer in the history of the game,’ but I’ve got to be careful. Fool me one time — you know the saying.
So we’re sorting that order out and what that looks like. The one guy penciled in that has a great career average and [can] consistently score is Pierre-Luc Dubois. That’s the one guy, I want to say he’s 9 for 20 or something like — so that is a consistent someone you put in and pencil him in every single time. Does Protas start to shoot? (Shrugs)
And we look at that in practice. Mikey’s a good example. He’s scored a lot this year so you’d be like, ‘Mikey’s got to be a [good option].’ Mikey on breakaways? This year, for whatever reason it’s just looked a little bit off. Doesn’t mean you don’t use him. It’s just — you’ve got to think about those things.
Jakob Chychrun has got 11 goals this year. He’s 1 for 3 career. We used him. Did it work? No. Back to the drawing board.
Note: The players Carbery noted, these are their results in the shootout.
Dylan Strome: 2/6 last year, 2/13 career
John Carlson: 1/3 last year, 4/13 career
Connor McMichael: 0/3 last year and career (last year was first s/o attempt)
Alex Ovechkin: has not scored in last 11 attempts (over 3 seasons)
Pierre-Luc Dubois: 9/20 career
Jakob Chychrun: 1/3 career before they decided to use him vs. BUF, now he’s 1/4.
