Capitals Beat Stars, 3-2, Tom Wilson Scores Third Goal In As Many Games


Photo: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Capitals downed the Dallas Stars, 3-2 Thursday night at Capital One Arena in the District. The victory improves the Capitals record to 2-1-0 on the season.

Following a very slow and sleepy start to the game, the Dallas Stars opened the scoring with a short-handed goal from Colin Blackwell and held the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Capitals tied the game less than a minute into the middle frame on Tom Wilson’s third goal in as many games less than a minute into the period and Dylan Strome gave the Capitals their first lead of the night less than 6 minutes later. Dallas answered later in the frame with a tally from Jason Robertson to make it 2-2, But the Capitals regained the lead late in the period on Taylor Raddysh‘s first goal as a Capital to make it 3-2 at the second intermission.

The third period would see plenty of scoring chances for both sides but none finding the back of the net. The Capitals killed a late Dallas power play and two minutes of 6-on-5 to hold on for the victory.

LINEUP

Charlie Lindgren (0-1-0, 4.16 GAA, .870 sv%) made his second start of the season for the Capitals. Casey DeSmith (1-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Stars. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Capitals:

Aliaksei Protas – Dylan Strome – Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Hendrix Lapierre – Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime – Nic Dowd – Taylor Raddysh

Jakob Chychrun – John Carlson
Martin Fehervary – Dylan McIlrath
Rasmus Sandin – Trevor van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson

Scratches: Matt Roy (lower body injury), Alex Alexeyev, Sonny Milano

1ST PERIOD

Following a somewhat sleepy start which saw the Capitals register their first official shot on goal with just 8 minutes remaining in the period, the Stars finally opened the scoring with a short-handed tally from Colin Blackwell (1) at 12:19. O. Bäck (1) Had the line assist.

And that was it for the first frame. The Stars led in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 9-6. Dallas led even-strength expected goals a drowsy 0.06 to .01.

The Capitals were 0 for 3 and the Stars 0 for 2 on the power play in the first 20 minutes. Dallas won the battle at the dot 58-42%.

2ND PERIOD

The Capitals tied the game early in the middle frame on Tom Wilson’s third goal in as many games at 0:55. Pierre-Luc Dubois (2) and Connor McMichael (2) had the helpers.

The Capitals took their first lead of the night on a blast from the point from Dylan Strome (2) at 6:15 of the middle frame. John Carlson (3) and Aliaksei Protas (1) had the assists.

With the assist, Carlson passed Kevin Hatcher (677) for the ninth-most points by an American-born defenseman in NHL history.

The Stars answered to make it 2-2 with a tally from Jason Robertson (2) at 13:09 of the second period. R. Hintz (2) and W. Johnston (4) had the assists.

But the Capitals regained the lead late in the period on Taylor Raddysh‘s first goal as a Capitals to make it 3-2 at 17:19 of the middle frame.

The Capitals held the 3-2 lead into the second intermission. The Capitals scored three goals for the second period in back-to-back games.

The Capitals led in 5-on-5 shot attempts 21-15 after two periods. The Capitals led in expected goals for 1.17 to .98 in the second period.

3RD PERIOD

The third period would see plenty of scoring chances for both sides but none finding the back of the net. The Capitals killed a late Dallas power play and two minutes of 6-on-5 to hold on for the victory.

SHAVINGS (From Capitals PR)

  • Tom Wilson extended his season-opening goal streak to three games (3g) to tie the game 55 seconds into the second period. It marks Wilson’s first goal streak of three or more games since April 8-13, 2023 (four-game goal streak: 4g).
  • Pierre-Luc Dubois recorded the primary assist on the Capitals’ first goal. Dubois, who has assisted on two of Wilson’s three goals this season, is now one assist shy of 200 career assists.
  • Dylan Strome scored his second goal of the season to give the Capitals a 2-1 lead. Strome’s three-game point streak (2g-2a–4p) to open 2024-25 is the longest from the start of a season in his career.
  • John Carlson recorded the primary assist on Strome’s goal, extending his season-opening point streak to three games (1g-3a-4p). With the assist, Carlson passed Kevin Hatcher (677) for the ninth-most points by an American-born defenseman in NHL history.
  • Aliaksei Protas was credited with the secondary assist on the Capitals’ second goal. Twenty-eight of Protas’ 29 points in 2023-24 came at five-on-five, which ranked third on the Capitals.
  • Taylor Raddysh scored his first goal as a Capital to give Washington the 3-2 lead. It marks Raddysh’s first career goal against Dallas.

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.





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