📸: kurly from #crashers
The Washington Capitals spotted the Tampa Bay Lightning a three-goal lead in the first period and couldn’t get it back, losing on home ice on Saturday night.
Justin Sourdif was all alone up front, scoring his third goals of the season to give Washington a 1-0 lead one minute into the game. And if you turned off the TV then, you probably had a good night. Brandon Hagel scored a shorthanded goal, the exact opposite of what is supposed to happen on a Caps power play. Oliver Bjorkstrand got a rebound to give Tampa the lead, then extended by another from Hagel (lucky) and one from Nikita Kucherov on a breakaway.
The Caps clawed back a little in the second period, with Jakob Chychrun’s lucky bounce bringing the score to 4-2 after two periods.
Ethen Frank started the rally, but Anthony Cirelli cleaned up a rebound to settle the matter.
Caps lose.
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- Logan Thompson allowed four goals on six shots before earning the hook. I chose the word earning with intent. I can’t fault him for the Kucherov breakaway goal, but otherwise this was the worst game of Thompson’s tenure in DC. I’m going to share a tweet now, but I need to emphasize ahead of time that this was about another goalie in another game.
In hockey, there’s some sort of weird stigma around blaming goalies. Commentators, coaches, analysts … Everyone finds it taboo to say “tonight it’s on the goalie to be honest, he really needed to stop one or two more to keep his team in the game”
— CJ Turtoro (@CJTDevil) November 23, 2025
- The Caps power play had five and a half opportunities and blew all of ’em. One of them was blown into their own net. There was nearly a power play a few minutes into the third period, but the referees changed their mind. The relief was palpable.
- Early in the second period, Nikita Kucherov had an awkward collision with Tom Wilson and an official. We saw Kuch doubled over in pain. He did not return. So he got three points (one goal, two assists) in 5:18 of ice time. That’s a player.
- Brayden Point missed nearly the whole third period. The Tampa bench was a mess.
- Tom Wilson fought and felled Curtis Douglas, the 6’9″ Ontarian colossus. Douglas got the instigator penalty and a definite L on his fight card.
- Ethen Frank has three goals in his last two games. His marker in third period here is the only reason why your brain fed you any dopamine at all in this entire game.
- With Dowd out, Brandon Duhaime got Lapierre-level ice time. He got involved in other ways.
Brandon Hagel lost his helmet in a second-period scrum. It fell into Logan Thompson’s lap. Alex Ovechkin picked it up and tried to give it back to Hagel.
When he didn’t take it, Brandon Duhaime asked for the bucket and then dropped it on the floor of the Capitals’ bench. 😂 pic.twitter.com/aiPMj7mynm
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) November 23, 2025
- The Caps and Bolts won’t meet again this season, which is a shame because they sure hated each other by the end of this one.
- As a person who has personally fought cancer, I am insulted and offended by the Caps power play’s performance on Hockey Fights Cancer night. I’m happy to be alive, sure, but when the Caps are a man to the good, I have to think about it for a sec.
#joebsuitofthenight
With either a non-disaster performance from the starting goalie or a professional-quality power play, the Caps would have won this game handily. Instead, their three-game win streak comes to an end. They’ll try to start a new one on Monday, hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets.