Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals downed the Anaheim Ducks, 3-0, Tuesday night at Capital One Arena in Washington. Logan Thompson stopped all 19 shots he faced for his fifth career shutout and first shutout as a Capital. Thompson has stopped 50 of 51 shots against (.980 save percentage) over his last two games. The victory improves the Capitals’ record to 29-10-5 (63 points) on the season.
The Capitals opened the scoring with a deflected shot for a tally by Brandon Duhaime and added a John Carlson snipe for a 2-o lead after twenty minutes of play.
The Capitals made it 3-0 in the final minute of the middle frame on Ethen Frank’s second career goal in the NHL and held the lead into the second intermission.
The third period went without a score. With their 3-0 win tonight over Anaheim, the Capitals have now earned at least one point in 11-straight home games dating back to Nov. 29 (8-0-3). It marks the team’s longest home point streak since a 17-game run in 2016-17 (16-0-1 from Dec. 23, 2016 – March 4, 2017).
LINEUP
Logan Thompson (18-2-3, 2.32 GAA, .919 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. John Gibson (7-6-2, 2.90 GAA, .909 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Ducks. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Taylor Raddysh – Lars Eller — Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Andrew Mangiapane
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Hunter Shepard
Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev.
Injured: Charlie Lindgren (upper-body), Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).
Hunter Shepard was recalled from Hershey on 01/11/2025 and Ethen Frank was recalled from, and Ivan Miroshnichenko was re-assigned to Hershey on Friday, 01/10/2025.
1ST PERIOD
The Capitals opened the scoring with a rebound goal from Brandon Duhaime (5) at 7:34 of the first frame. Jakob Chychrun (18) and Nic Dowd (6) had the helpers.
Of course it had to be Dewey on dog night pic.twitter.com/oyXPj0C9gz
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 15, 2025
The Capitals extended their early lead to 2-0 on a snipe from John Carlson (4) at 14:30 of the first period.
USA HOCKEY IS DO OR DIE pic.twitter.com/NJjvkPVEDu
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 15, 2025
The Capitals held the 2-0 lead into the first intermission. The Capitals dominated five-on-five shot attempts, 29-14, and led in expected goals for, 1.38 to 0.41.
2ND PERIOD
The Capitals made it 3-0 late in the middle frame on Ethen Frank’s second career goal in the NHL at 19:01. Pierre-Luc Dubois (27) and Brandon Duhaime (7) had the assists.
Ethen Frank AGAIN 🤯
He’s got points in each of his first three NHL games!
The @Capitals have something special here… pic.twitter.com/JwEkO6lOq1
— NHL (@NHL) January 15, 2025
And that was it for the middle stanza. The Capitals led in five-on-five shot attempts, 16-13, and expected goals for, 0.39 to 0.38, in the second period.
3RD PERIOD
The final frame went without a score.
SHAVINGS (Via Capitals PR)
- Brandon Duhaime scored his fifth goal of the season to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Duhaime has matched his goal total from last season (5g in 80 GP) in 36 fewer games played.
- Jakob Chychrun was credited with the primary assist on Duhaime’s goal, his 18th assist of the season. Chychrun, who leads Capitals defensemen in goals and points, has tallied 22 points (7g, 15a) in his last 24 games dating back to Nov. 25, the most on the Capitals in that span.
- Nic Dowd tallied his sixth assist of the season on Washington’s first goal. Nine of Dowd’s 16 points (5g, 4a) this season have come at Capital One Arena.
- John Carlson scored his fourth goal of the season to extend Washington’s lead to 2-0. Carlson has recorded 20 points (5g, 15a) in 20 career games against Anaheim.
- The Capitals have scored a League-leading 54 goals in the first period this season.
- Ethen Frank scored his second goal in as many games to put the Capitals ahead 3-0. Frank has recorded a point in each of his first three NHL games (2g, 1a).
- Frank is the sixth player in franchise history to record a point in each of his first three NHL games, joining Alex Ovechkin (8 GP in 2005-06), Andre Burakovsky (4 GP in 2014-15), Milan Novy (4 GP in 1982-83), Ryan Walter (4 GP in 1978-79) and Jan Bulis (3 GP in 1997-98).
- Pierre-Luc Dubois recorded his 27th assist of the season on Frank’s goal. Dubois, who has recorded 20 points (5g, 15a) in his last 21 games, ranks second on Washington in assists and third in points (34).
- Brandon Duhaime was credited with the secondary assist on Washington’s third goal, his second point of the night (1g, 1a). It marks Duhaime’s second multi-point performance of the season and the fifth of his career.
- The Capitals, who earned their first shutout of the season, rank fifth in the NHL in goals against per game (2.52).
