📸 : RMNB
The Washington Capitals picked up another big win on Tuesday night. The never-say-die Caps prevailed 6-4 over their divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers.
I’ve been saying it’s over for the past few weeks. I still think it is, but it’s definitely less over than it previously was.
Analytically, the Capitals are still playing absolutely brutal hockey five-on-five, but they’re finding some of last season’s shooting luck and still have Logan Thompson in their net. The Caps only managed 24 total five-on-five shot attempts in this game, their second-worst single-game total of the season, bested only by a 21-attempt outing against the Florida Panthers on December 29. They also controlled only 26.6 percent of expected goals at five-on-five, by far their worst output of the year, second-worst being the 31.4 percent they managed against the New York Islanders on November 30.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice to give him seven goals in his last seven games. The first of his two goals was his 30th of the season, hitting the 30-goal mark for the 20th time in his legendary career. He is only the fourth player in NHL history to score 30 goals at age 40 or older, joining Gordie Howe, Johnny Bucyk, and Teemu Selanne.
Hey now, the power play has found some life out of nowhere. After two goals on three attempts against the Flyers, they are now operating at 28.9 percent in the month of March. Would have been nice to see any of that before they dug themselves such a deep hole in the hunt for a playoff spot. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it has started scoring after they finally decided to make drastic changes to personnel and ice time.
The Capitals have scored 17 goals over their last three games (5.67 GF/GP).
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) April 1, 2026
Cole Hutson skated just 10:58 of ice time in the win, taking just four shifts in the third period. Definitely his weakest game so far, but he’ll learn from it and get better. I thought his power-play work was still pretty great. I think the coaching staff needs to get on him a little bit about being more selfish and using his shot. His shot is better than his brother’s and is deadly accurate. He needs to get that thing on goal more instead of deferring to Ovechkin and Dylan Strome so much.
David Kampf played 8:28 of ice time in his Capitals debut. During his five-on-five minutes, the Caps posted negative differentials in shot attempts (-10), scoring chances (-2), and high-danger chances (-1). He recorded one hit, one shot block, and went 4-2 in the faceoff dot. I don’t know, chat. I think we’re going to remember Kampf’s time with this team just as much as we remember Michael Raffl and Craig Smith’s tenure with the Capitals.
The Capitals are getting some more help in the standings lately and winning games, so their playoff chances keep increasing. According to MoneyPuck, they’re now at a 15.1 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason. They are three points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot, with three other teams ahead of them. They are four points back of the New York Islanders for third in the Metro Division, with two teams ahead of them there.
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