The Washington Capitals had an emotional night facing their ex goaltender Braden Holtby but they lit him up with five goals after the Dallas Stars first goal of the game would be overturned to offsides after a successful challenge. That would be the closest the hosts would get the whole night.
Believe it or not the Caps were actually good on the power play for once. After Roope Hintz was called for tripping Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Caps went to the attack. Kuznetsov worked the puck to Nicklas Backstrom then to Tom Wilson in front of the net. Wilson scored at 1:29 for his 13th goal of the season.
Miro Heiskanen then got called for holding Connor McMichael, putting the Caps on another power play. On this one Kuznetsov moved the puck over to Backstrom and then John Carlson had the finish at 7:54 for his ninth goal of the season.
At 13:08 the Caps made it 3-0 as McMichael and Joe Snively found Trevor van Riemsdyk who shot it from downtown for his first goal of the season. 3-0 was the score after one with the Caps leading in shots 19-14.
At 12:03 in the second period, Justin Schultz passed the puck to Lars Eller. Eller drove down the ice and flung a quick pass to McMichael who banged it in for his sixth goal of the season. At 16:50 Dmitry Orlov found Backstrom for his third goal of the season.
5-0 was the score after two periods with shots even in the second at eight apiece. The Stars led in shots 7-2 in the third but the Caps would preserve the shutout for Vitek Vanecek as he made 29 saves. Shots were even at 29 overall.
Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette told the media after the game:
"“Vitek made big saves when we needed him to make big saves and offensively we were able to capitalize. It was nice to get the goals early and get into the game that way, especially on the power play and gaining a little confidence from that.”"
It was a bittersweet victory as it came against an old friend in Braden Holtby. Backstrom added:
"“I hate to see he had a tough night but we all know what he has done for our organization, for our club, for our fans. He’s a good friend of a lot of guys on the team. I think everyone loves him."
The Caps will open up the month of February with a road contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins.