📸 : RMNB
The Washington Capitals ended their three-game road trip on a high note, downing the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in a shootout. The victory was definitely not a pretty one, but they all count the same.
I like the fight the team is showing, but the same issues that have plagued them keep plaguing them, even in wins. Some stuff needs to get sorted out before next season.
The Capitals have not been good at five-on-five overall on this trip. They’ve played well for stretches of games, but tend to cede momentum to their opposition for far longer stretches. At five-on-five during this three-game stint, using score and venue-adjusted metrics, the Caps have controlled just 41.6 percent of shot attempts, 40.2 percent of expected goals, 40.5 percent of scoring chances, and 37.2 percent of high-danger chances. Those are atrocious figures, and they only won two of the three games because their goaltender is the best in the league, and the opposing goalies certainly were not.
I don’t mean to turn a win post into a negative vent session, but I’ve been sorta holding this back for a good while. The Capitals have been god-awful analytically since some point in December. They were one of the top teams in the entire NHL in the fall, but completely fell apart once winter arrived. Let’s quite literally look at how they’ve played pre and post the start of winter. In their 35 games before December 21, they controlled 52.6 percent of shot attempts, 52.8 percent of expected goals, 52.8 percent of scoring chances, and 53.6 percent of high-danger chances. In the 39 games after, they’ve controlled just 47.2 percent of shot attempts, 49 percent of expected goals, 47.5 percent of scoring chances, and 49.2 percent of high-danger chances. This decline also began before they did what they did at the trade deadline. It’s up to the coaching staff and club management to figure out what changed and, if there were purposeful changes, to never make those changes again.
After the win, per MoneyPuck, the Capitals’ playoff qualification odds increased to just 8.8 percent. This team isn’t making the playoffs. I don’t say that to be a Debbie Downer. I say it because they entirely should have made the playoffs, even with PLD’s injury, and there needs to be an evaluation this summer to figure out why that didn’t happen.
Washington’s five youngest players combined for seven points in tonight’s 5-4 shootout win over Vegas.
Cole Hutson, age 19 – 2a
Ryan Leonard, age 21 – 1a
Ivan Miroshnichenko, age 22 – 1a
Justin Sourdif, age 24 – 1g, 1a
Hendrix Lapierre, age 24 – 1g
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) March 29, 2026
Really great stuff from the above names. All five of those players finished in the bottom six in terms of ice time, excluding Aliaksei Protas due to injury. Ivan Miroshnichenoko played just 7:49, Hendrix Lapierre just 8:04, Cole Hutson the least among defensemen at 15:10, Ryan Leonard at 15:16, and Justin Sourdif at 17:34. Read into that whatever you will.
I almost decided not to talk about the power play again, but we have to after they gave up another two shorthanded goals. Remember the “same issues” I spoke about in the intro to this post? Yeah, you already know, I don’t need to explain it. The Capitals have now given up 11 shorties this season, one fewer than the Colorado Avalanche at the top of that leaderboard. When it comes to net power-play percentage, which factors in shorthanded goals, the Caps are operating at just 12.2 percent effectiveness this season, the second-worst mark in the NHL. Anyone not named Spencer Carbery involved with this year’s power play needs to go. Simple as that.
Now, they did actually score two power-play goals in this game, both sparked by brilliance from Hutson. He recorded his first career multi-point game in the win, becoming the first teenage NHL defenseman to factor on five consecutive power-play goals by his team since Mikhail Sergachev (2017).
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