Jose Theodore Says Capitals Were Best Shot At Cup After just squeaking out a win over the Edmonton Oilers earlier in the week, the Washington Capitals followed up on Thursday with the kind of win we expect a team of their capabilities to pull off, a dominant 3-0 win over the struggling Seattle Kraken. While not a perfect game, it was the kind of workmanlike win the Capitals have honestly needed to put forth amid their recent struggles to string together a consistent 60-minute effort. Let's look more at this one. ETHEN FRANK & THE OFFENSE LEAD A CONSISTENT 60-MINUTE EFFORT While the Capitals' offense didn't exactly light the world on fire in this one, they were much more put together and organized than they were against the Oilers and generated far more (and better quality) chances. Early on, a quick shot by Martin Fehervary beat Kraken goalie Joey Daccord over the blocker. The goal was called back for offside, though, as John Carlson welcomed the blueliner to the island of Capitals defensemen with disallowed goals this season. While Seattle managed its own share of shots and chances, the rest of the first period still largely belonged to the Capitals. They maintained possession and had higher-quality chances, outshot the Kraken and generally looked just better than they have recently. The second period has been less than kind to D.C. of late, but Thursday was a different story. Not only did they manage two goals on Daccord, but also continued to be the better team throughout the period, again, outshooting and out-chancing Seattle. Overall, the Capitals just simply looked locked in. First, Aliaksei Protas scored his 20th of the season, which came off a funny bounce off Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn. Protas continues to shine this season, growing into a consistent scoring threat every night. He is the third Capital to reach 20 goals this season and the second to hit the 40-point mark. Speaking of scoring threat, Ethen Frank continues to skate each shift as if he's been shot out of a cannon. He drove the play on a second-period chance, using his speed to beat Ryker Evans to the puck, feeding a pass to Fehervary who then fed it to Lars Eller, which was ultimately denied on a great save by Daccord. Later in the play, he stripped Kaapo Kakko and turned on the jets for a breakaway chance, beating Daccord on his own rebound. Franky has been making the most of his time with the Caps so far, and giving them every reason to keep him up in the NHL. It says a lot about his talent when an undrafted player can put up big AHL numbers and not look out of place by any means in an NHL game. While the third period was less eventful, it capped off what was a complete 60-minute effort by Washington, and the team managed at least 30 shots for just the second time in 10 games. CHARLIE LINDGREN & DEFENSE LOCK THINGS DOWN Charlie Lindgren, Capitals' goaltender and apparent acclaimed singing sensation [https://x.com/Capitals/status/1882680840724890012], has been watching Logan Thompson doing all kinds of big things between the pipes recently, and when he got back in the crease for the first time since his injury, he decided to match LT with a shutout of his own. Lindgren looked sharp in net, stopping all 23 shots fed his way, including some real tough chances in the first period. He had a couple of strong stops later on, including a breakaway save on Olivier Bjorkstrand and a late kick-out save on Jaden Schwartz in front. Defensively, Washington was solid, generally keeping Seattle's chances to low-danger areas and blocking a total of 22 shot attempts from the Kraken — including one that again, cut Fehervary's face open. A couple of mistakes were made, but Lindgren bailed them out every time. ALEX OVECHKIN CONTINUES 'GR8 CHASE' Alex Ovechkin managed to do something he does rather often, putting the puck in the net for his... checks notes... 875th career goal. That's good, I guess. He now just needs 20 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky for the most in NHL history. Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjEyMzQ2MTY4OTIxODI2OTQ0/gicsrohxgae3hvw.jpg] ONTO THE NEXT ONE Overall, this was just a solid, full-team effort. And again, it was exactly the kind of game the Capitals needed. Washington has struggled of late to put consistent 60-minute efforts together, and this one will hopefully be what they can use to build on going forward. The road trip continues on Saturday back over the border against the Vancouver Canucks in another round of "Capitals After Dark." The Canucks are in a weird spot right now. Currently sitting three points out of a wildcard spot, and dealing with some locker-room drama, they are still a formidable team with the likes of Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland to contend with. It's a dangerous team that is more than capable of giving the Capitals a hard time. Putting up another complete game will be required to earn a win on Saturday. Fortunately, the Capitals showed they are still more than capable of that, and hopefully, they can activate their offense again to capitalize on more chances to boot.
