March 9 vs. Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Stream: MonSports.net/Stream
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Chicago Blackhawks (16-42-5)
Washington Capitals (29-23-9)
Fresh from a 6-0 victory over the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Thursday, the Caps make a quick stop at home to host the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night. Saturday’s contest with Chicago is the Caps’ last in the District for a while; they will embark upon a five-game road trip through western Canada – and Seattle – beginning on Monday night against the Jets in Winnipeg.
When scheduled starter Darcy Kuemper became ill on Thursday morning, Charlie Lindgren stepped in and started for the seventh time in Washington’s last eight games on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. Lindgren stopped all 39 Pittsburgh shots to pick up his fourth shutout of the season, and his 14th victory, a single-season career best.
“When you get shutouts in this League – it’s too good of a League – it takes all 20 guys,” said Lindgren in the aftermath of Thursday’s game. “That’s what we saw tonight; I thought our guys did a really good job of just making sure I was seeing pucks, and being tough on guys in front of the net, and clearing out rebounds when they were there. Just a great team effort tonight.
“I wasn’t supposed to play tonight, obviously, and for the guys to give me that kind of effort tonight, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Caps winger Tom Wilson started the Caps’ six-pack of goals from six different players with a shorthanded goal at 1:51 of the first period, a goal that stood up as the game-winner on what was a difficult day and night for Wilson. His grandfather passed away earlier on Thursday, and Wilson played with his usual brand of detail and tenacity, taking an opposition stick to the face that resulted in some stitches. Following the game, he dedicated his performance to his family, who were gathered together in Toronto to watch the game.
“We just heard the tough news,” said Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery after the game. “It was great that he was able to go back home last week and visit him. I’ve talked to him about how much he meant, and how much of an impact he had on Willie’s life.”
Wilson’s shorthanded goal was the third fastest from the start of a game in Caps’ franchise history. The only two that came sooner after opening puck drop were scored by Mike Ridley at 1:22 of the first period on Jan. 1, 1994, and by Dennis Maruk at 1:37 of the first on April 1, 1979.
Rookie winger Ivan Miroshnichenko scored his first NHL goal late in the second period of Thursday’s game. Washington’s first-round choice (20th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, Miroshnichenko scored in his fifth NHL game, with a primary helper from Dylan Strome. It was one of three assists for Strome on the occasion of his 27th birthday.
Hendrix Lapierre and Sonny Milano both maintained offensive hot spells with goals against Pittsburgh. Lapierre scored for the fourth time in five games, and Milano struck for the fourth straight game. Milano has five goals in his last seven games.
Nick Jensen and Alex Ovechkin rounded out the scoring, Jensen with his first of the season and Ovechkin with a power-play tally for the 840th goal of his NHL career.
With an assist on Lapierre’s goal, Ovechkin recorded the 1,532nd point of his NHL career, pushing past former Pens blueliner and Hockey Hall of Famer Paul Coffey (1,531) for 15th place on the NHL’s all-time scoring ledger, just one point back of another ex-Penguin and Hockey Hall of Famer, Mark Recchi (1,533).
For the Caps though, the two points earned on Thursday were the main thing. Washington was able to rebound from a rare subpar performance on Sunday in a 5-2 loss to Arizona, and to shake off the loss of teammates Anthony Mantha and Joel Edmundson, casualties of the trade deadline. Mantha was traded to Vegas on Tuesday, and Edmundson was dealt to Toronto earlier in the day on Thursday.
A day after the win over the Pens, the Caps traded center Evgeny Kuznetsov to Carolina.
“It obviously hasn’t been an easy week,” said Lindgren after Thursday’s game. “Losing two really good teammates and two really good hockey players doesn’t make it any easier. But guys like [Miroshnichenko] stepping in and contributing right away and I thought [Ethan Bear] did a great job back there tonight [stepping in after Edmundson’s departure].
“It’s going to take the whole team, it’s going to take some of these young guys stepping up here, but I think we’ve got a really good leadership core in here where we can kind of string those guys along. They’ve got a lot of energy, and that’s what’s great to see. [Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas], and [Lapierre], you can see the way they skate. They can move, and it’s only going to benefit us.
“But we’ve just got to keep on going here. We’ve got another test against Chicago on Saturday, and we’ve got to play like we did tonight.”
The Hawks are in the midst of a full scale rebuild, and last season’s lowly finish enabled them to attain the top overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, where they made the obvious selection of center Connor Bedard. The 18-year-old Bedard leads the Hawks – and all NHL rookies – with 43 points (17 goals, 26 assists), this despite missing 14 games because of injury. Bedard had a pair of assists in his first career game against the Capitals, a Dec. 10 contest in the Windy City.
For the Blackhawks, Saturday’s game finishes a three-game road swing. Chicago comes to town on the heels of a 5-2 victory over the Coyotes in Arizona on Tuesday in the middle match of that journey. Tuesday’s victory halted a seven-game slide (0-5-2) for the Hawks, who have struggled mightily since well before the flip of the calendar. Chicago’s last set of consecutive victories came on Dec. 7-9, 2023, and the Caps downed the Hawks on Dec. 10 to nip that nascent streak in the bud. Beginning with that loss to the Capitals in December, the Hawks are 7-26-4 over their last 37 games.
