January 23, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; The Washington Capital Center Aliaksei Protas (21) celebrates after scoring the Seattle Kraken during the second period at Climate Phedge Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images Washington Capitals are looking for their seventh straight win as they visit the noisy Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
The Capitals closed out host Seattle Kraken by 3-0 on Thursday evening, which increased its scoring series to 12 matches (9-0-3). Washington has won the first two matches on his road trip in five games.
Vancouver, in the meantime, trends the other way after a road loss with 6-2 against Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Canucks has dropped eight of their last 10 (2-6-2).
“You have to find ways to be consistent in this league to win hockey matches,” said Canucks Forward Brock Boeser. “We don’t have that and we are fighting. It’s very difficult, but we have to. We are only (three) points from a wild-card place, and we have to find a way to turn it around.”
Boeser had a goal and an assist against Oilers, and Filip Hronek also scored. Thatcher Demko made 28 rescues. Vancouver’s defense player Quinn Hughes reached 40 assists for the fourth straight season.
Vancouver, which goes out in three matches after Saturday, has not won back-to-back competitions since November 29 and December 1.
“We will need to rest a little here and have a big match (on Saturday),” said Vancouver’s coach Rick Tochet, noting that his team lacked energy against Edmonton. “It’s a big must-win game, and you must always have in your mind that you must have a must-win attitude.”
Washington’s attitude has been good lately. Although they are struggling on the offensive, Capitals continues to win after a strong goalkeeper. When he returned from an upper body injury, Charlie Lindgren stopped all 22 shots from Seattle for his first Shutout for the season and Washington’s third in six games.
“I thought it was one of the better matches we have been playing in a long time, for a long time, from start to finish, in every phase,” coach Spencer Carbery said.
“Chucky was phenomenal. (Defense) corps was phenomenal. So lots of bright spots tonight, a really strong performance from our group.”
Aliaksei Protas and Ethen Frank scored even goals for Washington, and Alex Ovechkin added an empty player.
It was Ovechkin’s 875th goal in his career and 22nd for the season. He moved within 20 after passing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the NHL record.
Protas, 24, has appeared as a top-sex forward. After scoring six goals in his career in 78 games last season, he has 20 in 48 games.
“It means nothing right now, you have to keep working,” Protas said. “It will be a long season, and I want to prove that it’s not just luck or something. You want to be this kind of player, keep working on the game and keep getting better.”
Frank continues his strong start at the same time. Since he was called from Hershey in the American Hockey League and debuted on January 10, he leads Washington with three goals in seven matches.
Washington beat the visiting Vancouver 2-1 on January 8 when Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his second goal in the match with 41 seconds left of overtime.
— Field Level Media
