Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals downed the Boston Bruins, 3-1, Tuesday afternoon at Capital One Arena in Washington. Aliaksei Protas scored twice and Logan Thompson stopped 26 of 27 shots faced for the win. The victory improves the Capitals’ record to 25-10-2 (52 points) on the season.
The Bruins opened the scoring less than two minutes into the tilt as a result of a fortuitous bounce off of the boards on a dump-in. Justin Brazeau Jumped on the puck in front of the goal and finished. It was the earliest goal the Capitals have allowed all season.
The Capitals answered midway through the frame with an Aliaksei Protas tally from the high-danger slot and took their first lead of the afternoon on a power play goal from Jakob Chychrun and held the 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
Aliaksei Protas added an empty net goal late for the 3-1 win.
LINEUP
Logan Thompson (10-7-0, 2.61 GAA, .903 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. Jeremy Swayman (13-10-3, 2.93 GAA, .890 sv%) got the start in net for the visiting Bruins. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:
Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Connor McMichael
Aliaksei Protas — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Andrew Mangiapane – Lars Eller — Ivan Miroshnichenko
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Taylor Raddysh
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson
Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev. (Hendrix Lapierre was re-assigned to Hershey on Sunday, 12/29/24).
Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).
1ST PERIOD
The Bruins opened the scoring just 81 seconds into the contest. Justin Brazeau took advantage of a fluky bounce off the boards on a dump in and finished. P. Wotherspoon (1) had the helper.
Braz gets the bounce 👌 pic.twitter.com/hw62QOgDWb
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 31, 2024
The Capitals responded midway through the stanza on a shot from the slot by Aliaksei Protas (15) at 12:05. Pierre-Lux Dubois (23) and Tom Wilson (12) had the helpers.
An early equalizer from Pro courtesy of strong work on the boards by PLD pic.twitter.com/gzO4lkck1s
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 31, 2024
The Capitals took their first lead of the game with a power play goal from Jakob Chychrun (11) at 17:11. Dylan Strome (29), John Carlson (21) were credited with the assists.
The NHL’s co-leader in goals scored by a defenseman Jakob Chychrun is a Washington Capital#ALLCAPS | @BlueHalo pic.twitter.com/G3ZN7cPwV8
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 31, 2024
The Capitals held the 2-1 lead into the first intermission. The Bruins led in five-on-five shot attempts, 24-19, with the Capitals holding a slim edge in expected goals for, 0.98 to 0.95.
2ND PERIOD
The second period went without a score. The Bruins led in five-on-five shots, 22-12 for the period, and 47-31 after 40 minutes of play.
The Bruins led in expected goals for, 0.74 to 0.68 in the second frame, and led 1.96 to 1.73 after two periods.
3RD PERIOD
The Capitals added a late empty net goal from Aliaksei Protas for the 3-1 final.
‘The Bruins led in five-on-five shots, 70-47, and expected goals for, 3.36 to 1.92 for the game.
SHAVINGS (Via Capitals PR)
- Aliaksei Protas scored his 15th goal of the season to tie the game 1-1. Fourteen of Protas’ 15 goals have come at even strength, the most on the team.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois tallied the primary assist on Protas’ game-tying goal, his 23rd assist of the season. Dubois, who ranks second on Washington in assists, has recorded 14 points (3g, 14a) in his last 14 games.
- Jakob Chychrun scored his 11th goal of the season on the power play to put the Capitala ahead 2-1. Chychrun is now tied for the League lead in goals by a defenseman (Zach Werenski: 11g; Cale Makar: 11g). It marks Chychrun’s third power-play goal of the season. Chychrun has recorded 17 points (6g, 11a) in his last 17 games.
- Dylan Strome, who is playing in his 200th game as a Capital, recorded the primary assist on Chychrun’s goal. Since joining Washington ahead of the 2022-23 season, Strome ranks first on the Capitals in games played, assists (111) and points (172) and second in goals (61).
- John Carlson tallied his 21st assist of the season on Chychrun’s power play goal. Carlson (154g-544a–698p in 1,046 GP) is two points shy of becoming the 31st defensemen in NHL history to record 700 career points.
- Aliaksei Protas scored his second goal of the game to extend Washington’s lead to 3-1. It marks Protas’ third multi-goal performance in 37 games this season.
- Logan Thompson stopped 26 of 27 shots against this afternoon to improve to 15-2-2 in 19 games played this season and has tied the franchise record for fewest appearances to reach 15 wins with Washington (also Ilya Samsonov: 19 GP in 2019-20).
- Logan Thompson (15 wins in 19 GP) ranks eighth in the NHL in wins. Every goaltender ranked ahead of him has played at least 23 games.
- The Capitals have won four-straight games at home dating back to Dec. 14. Washington has allowed a total of five goals in those four games (1.25 GA/GP).
By Jon Sorensen
Capitals Postgame Audio
Forward Aliaksei Protas
Defenseman Jakob Chychrun
Goaltender Logan Thompson
Head coach Spencer Carbery
