Photo: @Capitals
The Washington Capitals beat the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 2-1 in overtime at Capital One Arena on Wednesday. The win lifted Washington to 27-10-4 (.707 points percentage) this season and the team is 6-2-2 since losing back-to-back games to the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks on their last Western Conference road trip. Goaltender Logan Thompson made 30 saves in the win.
Washington’s Lines
Alex Ovechkin – Dylan Strome – Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Ivan Miroshnichenko – Lars Eller — Taylor Raddysh
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Andrew Mangiapane
Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
- Scratched
- LW Jakub Vrana
- D Dylan McIlrath
- D Alexander Alexeyev
- Injured
- LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
- C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
- RW T.J. Oshie (back)
Roy appeared in his 400th career NHL game.
Vancouver’s Lines
Brock Boeser — J.T. Miller — Jonathan Lekkerimaki
Jake DeBrusk — Pius Suter — Conor Garland
Danton Heinen – Teddy Blueger — Kieffer Sherwood
Nils Hoglander — Max Sasson — Phil Di Giuseppe
Quinn Hughes — Tyler Myers
Carson Soucy — Noah Juulsen
Derek Forbort — Vincent Desharnais
Kevin Lankinen
Thatcher Demko
- Scratched
- D Erik Brannstrom
- D Guilliaume Brisebois
- G Arturs Silovs
- Injured
- C Elias Pettersson (undisclosed)
- D Filip Hronek (lower-body)
- C Dakota Joshua (leg)
First Period
After Dubois threw a leg-on-leg hit on Hughes a little more than four minutes in, a melee that ended with three Capitals and two Canucks going to the penalty box broke out.
WE GOT A MELEE BETWEEN THE CAPS AND CANUCKS 😱🥊 pic.twitter.com/lAMo550ASd
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) January 9, 2025
Scoring
- 19:27, 1-0 Washington: Dubois roofed a backhand over the glove of Lankinen in the goal crease on a rebound after Roy’s wrister from the point was stopped. Dubois has recorded 22 points (7-15-22) in 24 career games versus Vancouver, the second-most points he has registered against a single franchise (10-13-23 in 26 games vs. Montreal Canadiens). Dubois extended his point streak to five games (1-4-5). Dubois has recorded 18 points (4-14-18) in his last 18 games.
A Pierre-Luc DuBeauty pic.twitter.com/ndAqQGaJei
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 9, 2025
Stats
- 6-3 Washington in shots
- .643 Washington on draws
- Washington did not score on their first power play
- Vancouver failed to convert on two
- 6-5 Vancouver in hits and blocked shots
- 4-1 Washington in giveaways
- 3-3 in takeaways
Second Period
Scoring
- 19:23, 1-1 (PPG): Garland pounced on a rebound at the back door on the blocker side of Thompson after he stopped Hughes’ wrister from up top.
Conor Garland puts Hughes’ rebound into the open net for a power play goal, 1-1 game!#Canucks pic.twitter.com/fH7j2WyavT
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 9, 2025
Stats
- 23-10 Vancouver in shots
- including 21-4 in the second
- Vancouver scored on their third power play opportunity
- 17-16 Vancouver in hits
- 10-7 Vancouver in blocked shots
- 7-6 Washington in giveaways
- 7-4 Vancouver in takeaways
Third Period
Scoring
Stats
- 30-15 Vancouver in shots
- including 6-4 in the third period
- Washington finished 0 for two on the power play
- Vancouver had four chances
- 27-20 Vancouver in hits
- 18-13 Vancouver in blocked shots
- 12-10 Washington in giveaways
- 10-7 Vancouver in takeaways
Overtime
Scoring: 19:20, 2-1 Washington: After Protas faked a slapper down the left wing and carried the puck around the net and took all three Canucks with him, he found Dubois in front all alone. Miller lost his stick while attempting to strip Protas of the puck behind the net. Dubois walked down broadway, deked, and wristed one with Lankinen down and out. It marked Dubois’ eighth career overtime goal and his first since March 13, 2022. Dubois recorded his first multi-goal game of the season and the 17th of his career on Wednesday. It marked the second time Dubois has had a multi-goal game that included an overtime goal (also 2/21/2021 at Vancouver as a Winnipeg Jet). Protas extended his point streak to three games (2-2-4). Protas has tallied 15 points (10-5-15) in his last 16 games.
DUBOIS WINS IT! 🦅
He scores both goals for the @Capitals in their @Energizer overtime victory! pic.twitter.com/GsUeGQclKN
— NHL (@NHL) January 9, 2025
Shots: 31-18 Vancouver, but 5-1 Washington in shots
The Capitals have earned at least one point in nine-straight home games dating back to Nov. 29 (7-0-2). That is tied for the team’s longest home point streak since a nine-game run in 2018-19 (7-0-2 from 2/5–3/20/2019).
Thompson improved to 17-2-2 this season. Thompson has allowed two or fewer goals against in 13 of his 17 starts since November 2.
Washington vaulted five points ahead of the New Jersey Devils with two games in hand and eight in front of the Carolina Hurricanes with both teams having played 41 contests this season.
Next game: Friday vs. Montreal Canadiens (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market).
By Harrison Brown
