Jan 17, 2026; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson (48) is beaten by a shot from Florida Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis (not pictured) during the second period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
This team is just not where they need to be right now, and it’s showing every night they let games slip away that they should have. Injuries are a factor, for sure – they’re simply not the same team without Tom Wilson and Justin Sourdif out, to say nothing of Pierre-Luc Dubois – but they’ve looked sluggish and ineffective for a while now, and this was another example of that.
Plus: Jakob Chychrun appears to be feeling all better, with a two-goal outing tonight – his third of the season, most among NHL defensemen.
Minus: The Caps have been chasing the game far too much lately, and doing so against teams who have much more reason to be sluggish than they do. Absolutely zero reason for the Caps to get outshot 14-4, and outscored 1-0, in the opening frame of a team with tons of injuries coming off a lopsided loss less than 24 hours earlier. It’s a coaching issue, it’s a player issue, and it needs to be fixed.
Caps Player of the Game: Gotta go with Chychrun, although Logan Thompson made some big saves as he attempted to keep this one close.
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