📸 : RMNB
The Washington Capitals didn’t let the New York Rangers make a comeback on Wednesday like they did last week. After taking a 3-2 lead, the Caps shut the door and left Capital One Arena 6-3 victors.
Not the cleanest game, but another win against a divisional rival. You take those.
Head coach Spencer Carbery wasn’t thrilled with his team’s overall effort postgame, and I have to agree with him. The Capitals were trying to self-sabotage again, especially in the third period, but survived just long enough for a clutch goal from Aliaksei Protas to put them up two. The five-on-five stats were not pretty, as the Rangers owned 51.4 percent of the shot attempts, 57.6 percent of scoring chances, 63 percent of high-danger chances, and 58.1 percent of expected goals. They’re still in need of a big turnaround at even strength.
On first watch, I didn’t love two of the goals Charlie Lindgren allowed, but they may also have been tough deflections he couldn’t do much about. However, Lindgren was pretty brilliant overall, especially on New York’s high-danger opportunities, and per MoneyPuck, saved 0.69 (nice) more goals than expected. At the other end, Jonathan Quick allowed 1.45 more goals than expected.
Big night for Justin Sourdif as he recorded his first career multi-goal game. I thought he was excellent in the first two periods, but that second line was in their own end too much in the back half of the game. Some of that is just their usage and score effects, though. Good to see him rewarded with some numbers on the scoresheet. He’s playing a top-six role that I don’t think he’s suited for at all in the long run, but the Caps, analytically, are staying well above water during his minutes. You’ll take that every time from a rookie pivot.
Alex Ovechkin recorded the primary assist on Sourdif’s power-play goal. Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader in power-play goals, has tied Phil Housley (612) for the ninth-most power-play points in NHL history.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) December 31, 2025
You can’t talk about this game without bringing up Tom Wilson. Just a signature performance from him, recording his third career Gordie Howe hat trick, hitting the 20-goal mark again, and scoring his 200th career goal. The shift he put together where he blew up Noah Laba and then crashed the net to score his first of the night: chef’s kiss perfection. With his second goal, he became just the sixth player in franchise history to score 200 goals with the Capitals. Forever franchise legend.
I mentioned Aliaksei Protas earlier, but he, relatively quietly, heated up big time in December. He finishes the month with 14 points (8g, 6a) in 14 games, and is back on pace to finish the season with 31 goals and 62 total points. That’s highly impressive, considering he seemed ice, ice cold during stretches of the fall.
Ryan Leonard played just 9:43 of five-on-five ice time in the win, second-lowest on the team. He sat on the bench for the majority of the third period, likely after a turnover or two that Carbery didn’t like. I really don’t love that decision, but that’s, of course, typical stuff that happens with NHL head coaches and rookies. Let’s hope Leonard has a big night in Ottawa.
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