Jan 27, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer (31) defends the goal against the Washington Capitals during the second period at Climate Pledge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
The Washington Capitals came into tonight’s game with the Seattle Kraken after a decent back-to-back in Alberta. They found success in Calgary with a 3-1 win, and then they snagged a point in Edmonton after a wild matchup ended 6-5 in OT in the Oilers’ favor. The Caps took some steps in the right direction with those two games and had the potential to use that as a turning point for the rest of both this road trip and their season. The big question, though, is would they actually do that? It would be even more challenging than usual with both Rasmus Sandin and Matt Roy out of Washington’s lineup…and that proved to be true.
Plus: The Capitals looked to be on the verge of getting shut out by old friend Philipp Grubauer, but it was Alex Ovechkin to the rescue! He scored on the power play in the third period, recording his 22nd goal of the season and the 919th of his career.
Minus: Pretty much everything else. Nothing was going Washington’s way: they struggled to generate offense, they got none of the lucky bounces Seattle benefitted from a few times, and they missed at least three pretty wide open net chances. Additionally, the Kraken’s fourth goal bounced off Tom Wilson’s skate and into the net. The Caps were also missing both Sandin and Roy and it showed, especially in the second period when the Kraken scored three unanswered goals.
Caps Player of the Game: We’ll go with the only Cap to find the back of the net and say Alex Ovechkin. In addition to breaking up Grubi’s shutout bid, Ovi’s goal did seem to wake the Caps up for a bit. Scoring a goal to get some momentum going, what a concept…
The Caps will wrap up their lengthy road trip with a game in Detroit this Thursday at 7:30 PM ET, where their game can hopefully take a turn for the better.
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