Ducks Rally, But Still Fall Short To The Capitals

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks started out their road trip in Washington DC against the Capitals. Petr Mrazek was in net against Charlie Lindgren.

Chris Kreider got the Ducks on the board first just over six minutes into this contest. He scored on a one-timer from the right circle on a pass from Olen Zellweger.

On the next sequence Brandon Duhaime challenged Jacob Trouba to a fight and the two dropped their gloves.

Justin Sourdif scored a pair of goals within three minutes towards the end of the first period. With just over 4 minutes to go in the period he beat Mrazek with a high stick-side wrist shot from the slot. He then scored with just over a minute left on rush with a wrist shot on the glove side. The Caps led 2-1 at the end of the first period.

Ross Johnston and Dylan McIlrath dropped the gloves just over five minutes into the second period.

Washington then scored three times in about a three minute time span to make it a 5-1 game just before the halfway point of the second period. Ryan Leonard scored from the side of the net banking a shot off Mrazek’s leg pad and in.

Sourdif then recorded a hat trick as he tipped a centering pass from Leonard past Mrazek.

Alex Ovechkin then scored from the left circle with a wrist shot.

The Ducks answered back with two goals before the period was over. Alex Killorn scored on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

Jacob Trouba then scored a few minutes later with a shot from the right point that beat Lindgren through traffic. The Capitals held a 5-3 advantage to start the third period.

Lukas Dostal came in to start the third period relieving Mrazek.

Beckett Sennecke scored from the slot just before the halfway point of the third period to pull Anaheim within one goal. He got to a loose puck and scored from his knees in the slot area.

The Ducks pulled Dostal in the final minutes of the third to try to get the tying goal, but Washington scored twice into the empty net to salt this one away 7-4. John Carlson scored the first empty net goal and Ovechkin got the final goal of the contest.

Analysis:

The Ducks had a solid start to this contest out shooting the Capitals 8 to 3 early on and scoring the first goal. The problems then started with Sourdif, who the Ducks did not have answer for. He scored twice in the first period, then added an assist on Washington’s third goal before completing the hat trick on the next goal.

Anaheim despite getting down 5-1 in the second period fought back getting two goals before the period ended. They added another in the third period and had a real opportunity to at least tie the game and possibly send it to overtime. Instead the Capitals scored into the empty net and hung on to win.

Again the issue for the Ducks was their defensive play. Some turnovers and poor line changes led directly to goals for the Capitals. Jackson LaCombe had a rough night being on the ice for four of the first five goals by Washington. He turned over the puck a couple of times and was victim of one of the poor line changes.

The Ducks put 45 shots on net with 82 shot attempts. The Capitals had 28 shots on goal in 47 attempts. At even strength the Ducks posted a CF% of 64.17% and a FF% of 59.09%. Looking at these numbers you would have thought the Ducks won this game, but defensive miscues and the inability to contain Sourdif did them in. Mrazek also did himself no favors giving up five goals on 24 shots against.

Team Notes/Stats:

The Ducks are 12-3-0 when scoring the first goal this season.

Kreider scored ending his 15 game drought.

Sennecke scored his rookie leading 14th goal.

Since December 11th, the Ducks have allowed three or more goals in 11 of 12 contests. Anaheim is 2-8-2 during that time span.

Prospects Eric Nilson and Lucas Pettersson won goal at the World Juniors today as Team Sweden beat Team Czech 4-2.

What’s Next?

The Ducks play the Flyers in Philadelphia tomorrow at 4 PM.

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January 5th, 2026