After ending a seven-game skid with a 5-2 victory, the Blackhawks lost 4-1 against the Washington Capitals on Saturday, March 9th. This was Washington’s second straight win, their first being against the Pittsburgh Penguins where they shut them out on Thursday 6-0. However, Chicago did put in some effort and they were able to avoid being shutout. Tyler Johnson scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks, recording his 13th goal of the season.
Blackhawks lineup against the Capitals:
Foligno – Bedard – Kurashev
Blackwell – Dickinson – Anderson
Sanford – Johnson – Raddysh
Donato – Entwistle – Johnson
Vlasic – Jones
Korchinski – Megna
Tinordi – Zaitsev
Mrazek
Soderblom
Capitals lineup against the Blackhawks:
Ovechkin – Lapierre – Protas
Milano – Strome – Miroshnichenko
Pacioretty – McMichael – Wilson
Malenstyn – Sgarbossa – Aube-Kubel
van Riemsdyk – Carlson
Sandin – Jensen
Alexeyev – Bear
Lindgren
Kuemper
Hendrix Lapierre recorded his fifth goal in six games and his seventh goal of the season at 12:59 of the first period. He deflected a shot from John Carlson at the point past Petr Mrazek to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Soon after Lapierre’s goal at 11:15, Michael Sgarbossa went for his third of the season to make it 2-0 after a shot from Trevor van Riemsdyk had been blocked in front. Sgarbossa scored a backhanded shot with a loose puck, going over Mrazek’s shoulder. With 6:24 remaining in the opening 20, Tom Wilson extended the Capitals’ lead to 3-0 on the power play off a pass from Dylan Strome, who was behind the net, and Wilson scored from the slot. It had appeared that Aliaksei Protas made it 4-0, however, Chicago successfully challenged that the play had been offside.
Late into the second period at 2:37, Sonny Milano pushed it to 4-0 for his 10th goal of the season and his fifth in five-straight games that date back to February 24th. Aliaksei Protas recorded his second assist of the night when he assisted Milano’s goal, marking his sixth multi-assist game of the season. Protas tied John Carlson for the most in Washington.
Pulling the Blackhawks within 4-1 at 10:11 of the final frame, Tyler Johnson went for his 13th of the season. A shot from Jarred Tinordi at the point had deflected in off Johnson.
Tyler Johnson on the game and power play: “We just had some careless dumb mistakes in that first period that even in the second on that other goal, that just really bit us in the butt. We just got to really take care of the puck, take care of our turnovers, take care of playing offense first, and doing that for a full 60 – I think in the first period we had a PP and I thought we had a pretty good chance at the end there. That’s why you need to have a power play, you might not score every single time, but you got to build momentum for the team. I think as a unit, we’ve gotten better as the season’s progressed and in the last little bit, it’s been a lot better. So we just got to continue to do that… I think ‘Bedsy’ hit the post a couple of times there, a couple of missed rebounds… that kind of stuff that if those go in, maybe it changes the course of the game.”
Johnson on Connor Bedard’s 16-shot attempts: “He has a pretty good shot, so if he’s shooting the puck, that’s a good thing… We like when he shoots the puck, for sure.”
Notes:
– Petr Mrazek made a total of 22 saves for Chicago… Nikita Zaitsev made his return after missing the previous 19 games due to sustaining a lower-body injury. Zaitsev played 16:56 and blocked two shots in his return.
– Both Hendrix Lapierre and Tom Wilson scored in their second-straight game… John Carlson and Aliaksei Protas each recorded two assists. Charlie Lindgren made a total of 31 saves for Washington.
Wilson’s goal marked his fifth power-play goal of the season… Since joining the Washington Capitals ahead of the 2022-23 season, Dylan Strome has ranked first on the Capitals in games played (143) and assists (71), as well as second in goals (45) and points (116)… Carlson accomplished his 37th multi-assist period, passing Mike Ridley for fourth-most in team history. The only other players with more are Nicklas Backstrom (64), Michal Pivonka (43), and Alex Ovechkin (43).
Sonny Milano is the sixth Washington Capitals player in the past 25 years to score in five games straight.
– Alex Ovechkin’s assist made him tie Mark Recchi for 14th on the NHL’s all-time points list.
