Capitals get clutch goaltending and penalty-killing effort in fun intra-division win
The Washington Capitals secured a Big Apple sweep after dispatching the New York Rangers in an entertaining 1-0 victory on Sunday night. After a relatively easy stroll through the New York Islanders on Saturday, the Rangers provided more of a test, one that the Caps just barely passed.
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- The Capitals were far too leaky defensively in this game, especially compared to their lockdown effort on Long Island. The second period, in particular, was sloppy, and they seemed to keep putting themselves in bad situations through poor passing and decision-making. After 40 minutes, the Rangers had created 10 five-on-five high-danger chances compared to the Capitals’ two, and the Caps recorded zero in the entire second period. The good guys responded better in the third, really shutting things down in front of their goaltender, which is hopefully more of what we see moving forward.
- Charlie Lindgren was absolutely phenomenal, stopping all 35 shots that he faced in the 10th shutout of his career. Per MoneyPuck, Lindgren stopped 3.34 more goals than expected, while Jonathan Quick also had a great game for New York, stopping 1.17 more goals than expected. In his career against the Rangers, Lindgren is now 4-1 with a 1.19 goals-against average, a .957 save percentage, and two shutouts.
- Anthony Beauvillier scored the lone goal in the game, deftly tipping home another great pass from Alex Ovechkin. The assist was Ovechkin’s 1,625th career point, leaving him 16 points shy of tying Joe Sakic (1,641) for the 10th most points in NHL history.
- The win featured a rare bad night from Pierre-Luc Dubois and his linemates, Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson. With the three on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals recorded negative differentials in shot attempts (-10), shots (-8), scoring chances (-5), and high-danger chances (-5). Dubois also left the game injured in the third period, with head coach Spencer Carbery providing no status update postgame.
- If Dubois does need to come out of the lineup, I would really love to see Ryan Leonard given more ice time. I’m about to drop a hot take here – I think Leonard is already the most dynamic Capitals player at speed with the puck on his stick. He can change the game by himself with one rush up the ice. He had one particular zone entry in this game where he beat three Rangers by himself and made a pinpoint pass to start the Caps on an attack. He has yet to play more than 13:13 of ice time in a game this season. His highest amount of ice time last season was 16:35, which I’d like to see again.
- I have to give some love to the penalty kill after questioning them in Sunday morning’s post. The PK went 2-for-2 at a very pivotal moment in the game, basically killing off four straight minutes of the second period. Lindgren was again a big part of that, but so were guys like Rasmus Sandin, Matt Roy, Nic Dowd, and Brandon Duhaime.
Washington Commanders' last win over the Bears still 'bothers' their rival QB
Jayden Daniels doesn't want to talk about it, because the Washington Commanders' quarterback says it won't help him and his teammates win on Monday night.
Head coach Dan Quinn said it was a cool moment, perhaps one of the coolest he's been part of and certainly the coolest single play in his first year as the Commanders' leader, but outside of that it has no bearing on his team's Week 6 matchup against the Chicago Bears.
To that end, this version of the Washington roster is not nearly the same as the one that was on the field when the Hail Mary happened last year, but to say it doesn't still have echoes reaching into this week would be, at least somewhat, inaccurate.
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A Haunting Memory
Because while it isn't on the mind of the Commanders entering Monday night, it still weighs on one player: Bears quarterback Caleb Williams.
"Not going down the rabbit hole of the 'revenge' title or anything like that," Williams said about the play and last year's game. "Obviously, you don't want to lose, especially in that fashion of a Hail Mary... Does it bother me? Yeah. I want to go out there and I want to win every single game that I have... when you go back home... to come out with a win always feels a little bit better when you can do it at home."
Even if he didn't necessarily grow up a fan of the franchise, coming up in the DC area, Williams at least likely had dreams of winning a game in Northwest Stadium, even if it wasn't wearing the hometown colors.
Last year, after the Hail Mary pass from quarterback Jayden Daniels landed in the waiting hands of receiver Noah Brown, he heard the cheers he'd imagined, but they just weren't for him, and they weren't for his team.
And when Williams walks into Northwest Stadium for the second time as an NFL quarterback, that moment and that feeling will be with him. And that is something the Commanders may be able to pile onto through pressure to push the young quarterback into a critical mistake.
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A Tale of Two Mindsets
Helping Williams avoid that emotional pitfall is Chicago head coach Ben Johnson who has his own negative history with Washington, but not the same history.
"You'd have to talk to those guys about it," Johnson said when asked about the Hail Mary, referring to players and coaches who were with the Bears when it happened. "We're a new team and we're just focused on winning this game this week."
A Nightmare Renewed?
That's the right way to go about it, of course. Those aren't wounds from 2025, but memories from 2024. But those memories are real, and they'll be featured at some point and in some way on Monday night, not just on the television screens, but on the big screen inside the stadium.
At that moment, Williams will be transported back to that night, and the nightmare that followed. If Washington has its way, he won't wake up from it until after he once again leaves the DMV with a loss in his carry-on bag.
