On the 50th anniversary of the first home game in franchise history, the Capitals came together to author an impressive 4-2 team victory – their first of the season – over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena.
Facing his former employer while simultaneously making his Capitals debut, goaltender Logan Thompson bit the hand that once fed him with a 24-save performance, including a dozen stops in the third period. Playing his first game as a Capital in over three and a half years, Jakub Vrana scored the game’s first goal on his first shot of the night. Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin laid six hits – only two hits shy of the total for the entire Vegas team on the night – and added a pair of assists to become just the sixth player in NHL history with 700 or more goals and 700 or more helpers.
Ageless defender John Carlson logged a 27:08 on the night, including 4:49 of shorthanded time. Both of those figures led all skaters in the game. And Carlson’s blueline partner Jakob Chychrun netted his first goal as a member of the Capitals to close out the home team’s scoring.
“I think we were definitely cleaner on our details all over the ice,” says Chychrun of the Caps’ performance in their second game of the season. “I think our forecheck was really good; it got us a big goal to start the game. [Thompson] had heck of a game against his former club, and he kept us in there when we gave up a couple of good opportunities against, and it was just a good team effort.”
In the early minutes of the second period, the Caps broke open a 1-1 game with three goals on three consecutive shots on Vegas goaltender Adin Hill in a span of 3:07, and Thompson kept the ever-dangerous Golden Knights at arm’s length the rest of the way.
For the second time in as many games on the young season, the Caps grabbed an early 1-0 lead. In the left wing corner, Andrew Mangiapane turned a puck over on the forecheck, then fed a late-arriving Vrana in front. In his first shot on net in his second term of duty in Washington Vrana ripped a one-timer past Hill for a 1-0 Washington lead at 6:02 of the first period.
“That felt great,” says Vrana. “You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Mange; that was a great forecheck. He won that puck battle and he served it to me. He was in on the forecheck the whole game, and I’m happy that one went in.”
The goal was Vrana’s first as a member of the Capitals since April 9, 2021. It was his first goal in front of Capital One Arena fans since Feb. 25, 2020.
The last five minutes of the first turned into high-event hockey. With just under five minutes left, Thompson flashed a pad to deny Pavel Dorofeyev’s bid from the slot, perhaps the Washington netminder’s best save of the period.
Less than a minute later, Dylan Strome drove the net and had a golden opportunity from the top of the paint, only to have his backhand bid denied by the saving stick of Nicolas Hague at the last second.
Seconds later, the Golden Knights went on their first power play of the game.
Early in the ensuing penalty kill, Caps’ center Nic Dowd was in the process of trying to execute a clear when he was hauled down by Vegas winger Mark Stone. No call was made, and soon after, Tomas Hertl found and fed Victor Olofsson, who was all alone on the right dot. The former Sabre makes his living there, and he cranked a one-timer into a yawning cage at 17:49 to square the score at 1-1.
Washington went on its first power play late in the first, and a second Vegas infraction early in the second gave it a brief 5-on-3 power play opportunity. Both of those chances failed to bear fruit, but when Vegas was whistled for a third minor penalty in a span of just 4 minutes and 47 seconds of playing time, the Caps seized the moment to regain the lead, as well as the game’s momentum.
From below the goal line, Strome issued a perfect feed to the front, where Tom Wilson drove it home at 3:06 of the middle frame. Wilson’s second goal in as many games restored the Washington lead.
The Caps were assertive in adding that advantage. Ovechkin made a sublime feed to the slot for Protas, and the rangy forward buried a shot from there to make it 3-1. With his third assist of the young season, Ovechkin hit 700 in the helper column.
“When you play 20 years, I’m pretty sure you’ll get the same number,” says Ovechkin. “It’s a pretty big number, and it’s nice to be in that company.”
And less than a minute later, Washington extended its lead to 4-1 on another pretty play. Vegas turned it over in neutral ice, and the Caps quickly and alertly took off in transition as the Golden Knights tried to execute a line change. Chychrun sent Dowd into Vegas ice, jumping in to join him on a short-ice 2-on-1. Dowd adroitly dribbled and then tamed a bouncing puck, backhanding a feed back to Chychrun. The pass had some air beneath it, but not to worry kid. Chychrun batted it home from the right post at 6:13, his first goal as a Capital. With three goals in just over three minutes, the Caps opened up their first three-goal lead of the season.
But Vegas quickly answered back with a marker from one of the hottest lines in the League. After the Caps lost control of the puck in the offensive zone, Vegas came back in transition. A couple of pretty passes later, Jack Eichel was isolated for another shot into a wide-open net, and he didn’t miss. It was a 4-2 game at 7:17 of the middle period.
Late in the second, the Caps forced an icing against a tired Vegas group. But not only did the Caps lose the ensuing offensive-zone draw, they looked on in horror as Alexander Holtz – in the midst of a marathon shift of 2:09 in length – found enough in the reserve tank to tear off on a breakaway. Thompson denied him, preserving the Caps’ two-goal cushion with just under two minutes remaining.
Vegas put heat on the Caps in the third, and the Golden Knights had a pair of power plays before the first television timeout in the final frame. But Thompson and the Caps safely and successfully navigated their way through the penalty trouble, and the third period. They brought the physicality; half of the Capitals’ game total of 24 hits were laid in the third, and Ovechkin led the way with five of his six hits. And just ahead of the final television timeout of the third – with Vegas pressing in the Washington end – Mangiapane made a critical play at the Washington line, across from the benches.
Eichel had the puck at the right point, but Mangiapane swarmed him there, preventing him from pushing it back down low. A small but spirited battle ensued for possession, and Mangiapane won it, eventually nudging the puck to neutral ice, and then deep into Vegas territory for a Washington personnel change.
“Mange was good, too,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “There’s an undercover play he makes – obviously the one on the first goal – a late one on Eichel. That’s as hard a guy in the League – you can put him with [Mitch] Marner, [Nathan] MacKinnon and [Connor] McDavid – from a skating standpoint, to stay with him and be able to defend him in an isolated, one-on-one situation.
“That was an undercover big play, because if Eichel gets out of that, that turns into a whole [offensive] zone shift, and usually not good things happen; it usually ends up in a Grade A [scoring chance] against.”
Thompson sealed the deal – and his first victory as a Capital – with a pair of late stops on Ivan Barbashev and Hertl.
“Getting two points is the most important thing,” says Thompson. “Getting the first one under the belt is always the hardest, and that’s a great team to build off for our team. That’s an elite offense and an elite defense. The guys came out and played an amazing game, and it’s a step in the right direction.”
Importantly, the Caps owned the big moments of the game. They scored the game’s first goal, Thompson refused to give up a goal that would result in a lead change, special teams came through when it mattered most, and there were no passengers.
“The moments, for me, are the key part of special teams,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery. “So two moments – we don’t score on the 5-on-3; it’s only [17] seconds, but we stick with it. We get a puck recovery – it wasn’t off of a set situation – puck recovery, goal. Huge goal.
“Then the penalty kill. We’re going to need to rely on you, [we take] two third-period penalties. The one, we were hemmed, and we dug in and found a way. If it turns into a 4-3 game, you just don’t know what happens in those situations. So the penalty kill, in the third period, [executes] two huge kills to keep that a two-goal game.”
Washington’s win cooled the Golden Knights, who breezed into town with a perfect 3-0 record after running the table on a season-opening homestand.
“Our execution wasn’t great early on,” says Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “If you look at their first goal, there wasn’t that much happening. The goalie half stops the puck, so our [defenseman] is facing the boards. And then we make it over and we’re not moving our feet, and there’s only one forechecker, and all of a sudden, we’re in trouble and it’s in our net.
“I thought there was a lot of that early on. We just never got to any pace in our game, and our execution was very average.”
