📸 : RMNB
The Washington Capitals are back to winning ways after the Tampa Bay Lightning forced them into a short detour this past weekend. The Caps came to play right from the outset on Monday night and beat up on the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 5-1 victory.
Much better overall effort. More of that.
Note: HockeyStatCards have changed their card design, and the embed no longer includes the explainer underneath the graph unless you click to view the full tweet. Do we think I should keep including them anyway? Taking feedback.
This is one of those rare games where the five-on-five stats and I don’t get along. According to NaturalStatTrick, the Blue Jackets created more five-on-five expected goals (3.05) than the Capitals (2.24), and I just think that’s a little ludicrous watching the actual game. So, this will be one of the times where I express how numbers are fantastic and tell a good story, but you always have to use context and your own eyes to paint the full picture. I don’t think Columbus was ever in this game. The Caps had their zone on lockdown.
Jakob Chychrun had a baller game, scoring two goals in a team-high 24:54 of ice time. Among all defensemen, Chychrun’s eight goals this season rank second in the league, behind only Cale Makar (9). He has a point in eight-straight games and 11 total points (5g, 6a) during that stretch.
Another pretty brilliant game from Justin Sourdif’s second line, featuring him, Aliaksei Protas, and Tom Wilson. The three forwards combined for five points (1g, 4a), and with specifically Protas on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals finished up 22-8 in shot attempts, 12-3 in shots on goal, 3-0 in goals, 12-3 in scoring chances, and 5-0 in high-danger chances.
Capitals defensemen have combined for a League-leading 19 goals this season.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) November 25, 2025
Logan Thompson rebounded from his horror show against the Lightning, making 22 stops on 23 shots faced. Per MoneyPuck, he stopped 1.9 more goals than expected, a true return to form.
The power play went 1-for-3, and the penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2. Praise be.
My one annoyance from this game will be what we saw on the five-on-three power play the Capitals were given. Ryan Leonard drew the initial penalty and then drew the second to put the Capitals up two men. He was promptly rewarded with a seat on the bench in favor of John Carlson, restoring the same five-man power-play unit that has been horrendous all season, which the team made a point to go away from literally two days ago. I was utterly baffled by the logic there. Carlson immediately tried to solo zone entry against the three defenders and turned the puck over. On the final entry attempt, Chychrun, the other defenseman on the unit, did the same exact thing. I hope that’s the last we see of that.
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