📸 : RMNB
The Washington Capitals prevailed 4-0 over the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game that will likely mean little to nothing other than possibly hurting their draft pick. Analytically, it was also a pretty terrible five-on-five performance overall.
Still fun to see Ilya Protas make his debut, though. I’ll take that.
- I’m not sure I’ve ever seen the Capitals shutout their opposition and score three or more goals in a worse-played game. The team defense was shambolic again, allowing 13 five-on-five high-danger chances to a downright awful Maple Leafs team. And the team offense wasn’t much better, creating just two high-danger chances of their own over the last 40 minutes. Ugly, ugly, ugly hockey. I’m really hoping for some systematic changes next year.
- Logan Thompson was the only reason this game wasn’t far, far closer. He finished with 21 total saves, registering his third shutout of the season. According to MoneyPuck, he saved 2.43 more goals than expected, which has taken him back to the top of the leaderboard in that metric with 28.1 total this season, slightly ahead of Ilya Sorokin (27.3).
- The other big storyline was Ilya Protas making his NHL debut. Little Pro finished with 15:37 of ice time, his first NHL point, a minor penalty for hooking, one shot block, and six faceoff victories in 14 tries. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals finished with a positive differential in scoring chances (+2), and they did not give up a single high-danger chance to the Maple Leafs.
All four rookies recorded a point in tonight’s 4-0 win over Toronto.
Ryan Leonard – 1g
Cole Hutson – 1g
Ilya Protas – 1a
Justin Sourdif – 1a pic.twitter.com/kikreYWHDc
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) April 9, 2026
- Ryan Leonard scored his 18th goal of the season in the win. He has scored a team-high eight goals since the start of March. His 18 goals are also tied with Ivan Demidov for the fourth most among all NHL rookies.
- Cole Hutson potted his third goal in his first 11 NHL games into an empty net. Hutson’s eight points (3g, 5a) since making his debut on March 18 rank second among rookie defensemen, trailing only Matthew Schaefer (9). Among rookie rearguards who have played in at least 10 games, Hutson (0.73) also trails just Schaefer (0.74) in point-per-game rate. The next highest after them is Nashville’s Ryan Ufko (0.50).
- From an eye-test perspective, I thought Pierre-Luc Dubois had his worst game of the season, and it looks like that tracks with the numbers as well. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals posted negative differentials in shot attempts (-6), shots on goal (-1), scoring chances (-4), and high-danger chances (-6).
- Back to what I referenced about the draft pick in the intro. With the win, the Capitals only increased their playoff qualification percentage odds from 3 percent to 4.4 percent, per MoneyPuck. They are also nearing the New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, and Columbus Blue Jackets, all moving below them in the Eastern Conference standings, which would push the Capitals from the 13th overall pick in the first round to the 16th overall pick. We don’t want that. There is no point in that happening.
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