Washington Capitals defensemen scored three goals in a 4-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Capital One Arena on Thursday night. Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson both scored, while Logan Thompson stopped all 22 shots sent his way by the visiting Maple Leafs to claim Washington’s 11th home win of the 2025-26 season. Toronto got shut out for the first time in the 2025-26 campaign and dropped the first contest of a three-game road trip that will take them to the Western Conference this weekend.
Game Recap
Washington’s Justin Sourdif feathered a net-front pass to Aliaksei Protas that was snapped past Dennis Hildeby for the Capitals’ opening goal for a 1-0 lead at 13:53 of the first period. A few minutes later, Chychrun doubled Washington’s lead to 2-0 after pouncing on a rebound from an Ethan Frank shot before slamming the disc behind Toronto’s netminder with only three minutes remaining until the first intermission. It was a choppy first period with five minor penalty calls, but no power-play goal celebrations occurred over the first twenty minutes of play.
The second period featured 21 combined shots, but there were no goal celebrations on the frozen floor located less than two miles from the White House. Both teams were far more disciplined after the first-period breather, with each squad taking one minor penalty in the middle frame. However, the special teams units did their job, killing off the infractions.
The third period featured back-to-back goals from Washington blueliners to put the game away for the home side. Chychrun added another goal to his league-leading total for an NHL defenseman (now at 14 goals) for a 3-0 advantage before Carlson scored four minutes later to put the final puck across the thin red line for a 4-0 final score.
With the win, Washington improves to 19-11-4 with 42 points, placing them second in the tightly packed Metropolitan Division. Toronto’s loss drops them to 15-13-5 and seventh place in the Atlantic Division with 35 points.
Up Next
The Capitals take a day off tomorrow before beginning a home-and-home series over the weekend against the Detroit Red Wings. Toronto will take the 665-mile trip from Washington, D.C., to Nashville, Tennessee, for a battle against the Nashville Predators on Saturday evening, before visiting the Dallas Stars in Dallas, Texas, on Sunday night.
