The Washington Capitals look for their seventh straight win when they visit the scuffling Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
The Capitals shut out the host Seattle Kraken 3-0 on Thursday night, increasing their point streak to 12 games (9-0-3). Washington has won the first two games of its five-game road trip.
Vancouver, meanwhile, is trending in the other direction after a 6-2 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. The Canucks have dropped eight of their last 10 (2-6-2).
“You have to find ways to be consistent in this league in order to win hockey games,” Canucks forward Brock Boeser said. “We haven’t and we’re struggling. It’s very difficult, but we have to. We’re only (three) points out of a wild-card spot, and we have to find a way to turn it around.”
Boeser had a goal and an assist against the Oilers, and Filip Hronek also scored. Thatcher Demko made 28 saves. Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes reached the 40-assist mark for the fourth straight season.
Vancouver, which goes on the road for three games after Saturday, has not won back-to-back contests since Nov. 29 and Dec. 1.
“We’re going to have to get some rest here and have a big game (on Saturday),” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said, noting his team lacked energy against Edmonton. “That’s a big, must-win game, and you always have to have in your mind that you have to bring a must-win attitude.”
Washington’s attitude has been fine of late. Despite struggling on offense, the Capitals keep winning behind strong goaltending. Returning from an upper-body injury, Charlie Lindgren stopped all 22 Seattle shots for his first shutout of the season and Washington’s third in six games.
“I thought that was one of the better games we’ve played in a long, long time, start to finish, in every phase,” coach Spencer Carbery said.
“Chucky was phenomenal. The (defense) corps was phenomenal. So, tons of bright spots tonight, a real strong performance from our group.”
Aliaksei Protas and Ethen Frank scored even-strength goals for Washington, and Alex Ovechkin added an empty-netter.
It was Ovechkin’s 875th career goal and 22nd of the season. He moved within 20 of passing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the NHL record.
Protas, 24, has emerged as a top-six forward. After scoring a career-high six goals in 78 games last season, he has 20 in 48 games.
“It doesn’t mean anything right now; you’ve got to keep working,” Protas said. “It’s going to be a long season, and I want to prove it’s not just luck or something. You want to be this type of player, keep working on the game, and continue to get better.”
Frank, meanwhile, continues his strong start. Since being called up from Hershey of the American Hockey League and debuting on Jan. 10, he leads Washington with three goals in seven games.
Washington beat visiting Vancouver 2-1 on Jan. 8 when Pierre-Luc Dubois scored his second goal of the game with 41 seconds remaining in overtime.
–Field Level Media
