Photo by Rick Ulreich/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Washington Capitals fell to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 3-0 at Enterprise Center on Saturday night and the two teams split the home-and-home series after Washington beat St. Louis, 5-2, at Capital One Arena on Thursday. Washington, who started a four-game Central Division road trip, won three of their previous four games entering Saturday.
Washington is 22-16-6 (.568 points percentage) overall this season. Goaltender Charlie Lindgren stopped 26 in the loss.
Washington’s Lines at St. Louis
Alex Ovechkin — Nic Dowd — Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas — Connor McMichael — Anthony Mantha
Max Pacioretty — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Beck Malenstyn — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Alexander Alexeyev — Nick Jensen
Joel Edmundson — Ethan Bear
Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: RW Matthew Philipps, D Trevor Van Riemsdyk, C Hendrix Lapierre
Injured: C Nicklas Backstrom (hip), RW Sonny Milano (upper-body), D Rasmus Sandin (upper-body)
St. Louis’ Lines
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad — Brayden Schenn — Jake Neighbours
Nathan Walker — Kevin Hayes — Adam Gaudette
Alexey Toropchenko — Nikita Alexandrov — Oskar Sundqvist
Nick Leddy — Colton Parayko
Torey Krug — Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella — Matthew Kessel
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
Scratched: LW Sammy Blais, D Scott Perunovich, D Tyler Tucker
Injured: LW Kasperi Kapanen (ankle)
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring
2:37, 1-0 St. Louis (SHG): Parayko ripped a wrister top corner and in after knocking the puck down out of mid-air in his own zone and taking it up the ice on an odd-man rush.
Colton Parayko literally did EVERYTHING by himself there. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/JGMPm98NPx
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 21, 2024
Shots: 12-5 St. Louis
Other Notable Stats: 8-6 Washington in blocked shots, 6-2 St. Louis in hits, 62% Washington in faceoffs
Graphs: Natural StatTrick
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring
7:44, 2-0: Schenn blasted one from the right dot through the five-hole of Lindgren to finish off a passing play while St. Louis was playing keep away with a penalty on Washington coming.
Brayden Schenn, bringin’ the heat. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/xpqbLD21MW
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 21, 2024
Shots: 18-14 St. Louis (9-6 Washington in second)
Other Notable Stats: 16-11 St. Louis in hits, 12-12 in blocked shots, Washington failed to score on three power plays
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring
15:51, 3-0 (PPG): Neighbours tipped a wrist shot by Thomas from the point after Kyrou fed him from the half-wall.
Look at those mitts on Jakey Neighbours. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/dQVWfyiZXg
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 21, 2024
Shots: 29-18 St. Louis, including 11-4 in the third
Other Notable Stats: 59% Washington on faceoffs, 15-13 Washington in blocked shots, 19-15 St. Louis in hits
Standings
Washington is currently a point behind the Detroit Red Wings (with a game in hand) for the first wild-card spot, two of Toronto Maple Leafs (with each team having played 44 games) for the first, five behind the Carolina Hurricanes (with each team having played 44 games) for third in the Metropolitan Division in actual points, and six back of the Philadelphia Flyers (two) for second.
Next game: Tuesday at Minnesota Wild (8 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)
By Harrison Brown
