Capitals Fall to Utah 5-4 in The Shootout; Wilson and Ovechkin Record Three Points Each

Capitals Fall to Utah 5-4 in The Shootout; Wilson and Ovechkin Record Three Points Each

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Photo: @Capitals/X

The Washington Capitals fell to the Utah Hockey Club, 5-4, Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena in the District, in a shootout. The the Capitals’ record to 36-11-8 (80 points) on the season.

The first period saw a total of five goals scored between the two clubs, with Josh Doan, Michael Carcone, and Jack McBain helping the Utah Hockey Club to a 3-2 advantage at the end of twenty minutes. Tom Wilson and Pierre-Luc Dubois recorded goals on the power play for Washington. Dylan Guenther would score the lone goal in the middle twenty, giving Utah a 4-2 advantage that would be cut to one by Dylan Strome just under five minutes into the third. Tom Wilson tied the game with 1:31 to go, sending the game to overtime with Logan Thompson pulled for the extra man. Neither club managed to score in overtime, and a goal from Nick Schmaltz sealed the victory for Utah.

Logan Thompson stopped 24 of 28 shots faced and both clubs scored on their respective power play chances (four for Washington, one for Utah). The Caps finished with the advantage in shots (43-28) and in the faceoff dot (58.6% to 41.4%).

LINEUP

Logan Thompson (23-2-4, 2.15 GAA, .924 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Capitals. x (22-11-2, 2.67 GAA, .902 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting Utah HC. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas —Pierre-Luc Dubois — Connor McMichael
Taylor Raddysh – Lars Eller — Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Andrew Mangiapane

Rasmus Sandin — John Carlson
Martin Fehervary — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched: Jakub Vrana, Dylan McIlrath, Alexander Alexeyev.

Injured: Sonny Milano (upper-body), Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (back).

1ST PERIOD

Following a pre-game ceremony honoring defenseman John Carlson’s 700th career NHL point (all with the Capitals), the Caps and Utah Hockey Club kicked off their Super Bowl Sunday matinee.

Josh Doan (son of longtime NHLer Shane) started the scoring off with a shot from the top of the slot squeezing through the five-hold of Logan Thompson, putting the NHL’s newest franchise on the board first; Jack McBain and goaltender Connor Ingram recorded the assists.

Just moments later, Michael Carcone finished a nice passing play by potting his third of the season past Thompson on assists from Dylan Guenther and Nick DeSimone.

The Capitals answered moments later, with Tom Wilson converting on the power play for his 23rd goal of the 2024-25 season to cut the home team’s deficit to 2-1; Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome recorded assists.

Utah’s young corps would add their third marker of the period with just over half the game to go; Jack McBain picked up his second point of the day, scoring his 11th goal on assists from Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan (also picking up his second point).

Pierre-Luc Dubois picked up his second point of the night on yet another Washington power play, scooping up the loose puck in the crease to cut the score in half for his 13th goal of the season. Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin recorded the assists on the goal.

At the end of twenty, Utah carried their 3-2 lead into the first intermission, leading on the scoreboard, and dominating Washington at the faceoff dot 62.5% to 37.5%. Washington outshot the Hockey Club by a 14-9 margin, converting on both power play opportunities. Utah had 10 scoring chances to Washington’s five; this included four High Danger Chances to the Caps’ two. Connor Ingram exited the contest after being injured by an Alex Ovechkin slapshot.

Photo: Natural StatTrick

2ND PERIOD

The second frame did not have to wait long for its first goal, as Utah’s Dylan Guenther potted his 20th of the season on the Hockey Club’s first power play of the opportunity for a 4-2 lead; Clayton Keller and Mikhail Sergachev had the assists.

Guenther’s goal would stand as the only tally of the frame, which ended with Utah maintaining their two-goal lead and the Capitals continuing to hold a shots advantage, 25-20.

3RD PERIOD

Washington would finally score the first goal of a period when Dylan Strome notched his 16th goal of the season and second point of the day to make it 4-3, Utah; Alex Ovechkin and Connor McMichael picked up the primary and secondary, assists, respectively.

With 1:31 left in regulation, Tom Wilson picked up his third point and second goal of the afternoon, tapping an Alex Ovechkin pass into the net to send the gme to overtime; John Carlson picked up the secondary assist on the play.

OVERTIME

Despite an extra five-minutes of overtime, neither club managed to beat the opposing netminder, sending the game to a shootout.

SHOOTOUT

Nick Schmaltz would score the lone tally in the shootout, with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome failing to solve Karel Vejmelka and Logan Thompson stopping Clayton Keller on Utah’s second shot in the skills competition.

 

Ice Shavings

  • NHL Box Score
  • Alex Ovechkin’s first period assist on Pierre-Luc Dubois’ power play goal moved him past Phil Esposito for 11th all-time in NHL history in Points Scored.

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