For the Washington Capitals, nothing is more important than winning right now, and the Caps cooled off the hot Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night by a 4-1 count in the second game of Washington’s four-game homestand. But Wednesday’s game also marked the debut of one of the Caps’ most promising blueline prospects of recent vintage, and Cole Hutson did not disappoint.
The 19-year-old Hutson – the Caps’ second-round (43rd overall) pick in the 2024 NHL Draft – was in the starting lineup for Washington, and he logged 16:22 in his NHL debut. Most importantly, he looked as though he belongs in the NHL and did not give off any jittery or nervous vibes whatsoever. And in the final minute of the contest with the Caps on the power play and the Ottawa net empty, Hutson scored his first NHL goal, a power-play tally on an odd-man rush at 19:34 of the third.
Hutson had passing options on the play, but Connor McMichael kept his stick off the ice and was pointing frantically at the Ottawa net, signaling the rookie to let it rip, and he did. In doing so, Hutson joins Christian Djoos as just the second Washington defenseman in franchise history to score in his NHL debut, and the first to do so on the power play.
“I thought he was phenomenal,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I thought right from the first shift, we wanted to get him out there as quickly as we could, and we started him in the game. First shift was as good of a first shift as we've had all year. I just watched it again, and obviously [Brandon] Duhaime and [Justin Sourdf] and [Ethen Frank] have a lot to do with that, but it was a good start, so I think that sort of hopefully calmed the nerves for him, because he didn't look nervous after that at all.
“[He] did a lot of good things. I don't know if you could have drawn up a better first game for Cole Hutson in a Washington Capitals jersey.”
The two remaining members of Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship team – Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson – scored the Caps’ first two goals of the game; both players netted their 25th goal of the season in the second period. Ovechkin’s goal – naturally – made history; he joins Gordie Howe as the second player in NHL history with as many as 20 seasons with 25 or more goals.
But as has been the case so often this season, goaltender Logan Thompson was the backbone of Wednesday’s win. He made 34 saves – 16 of them in the first period and eight of them on the Ottawa power play – and came within three minutes of earning a shutout.
“I think the only thing matters right now is two points,” says Thompson. “I don't care if I let in seven goals, so we'll build off it. And every point is important right now, so just get ready for the next games. We’ve got two more here at home, and those are equally as important.”
For the second time in as many games on the homestand, the Capitals and their opponent played to a scoreless first period. That’s largely because Thompson was on the beam from the outset of Wednesday’s game; he stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first frame while Washington was limited to just seven shots on the Ottawa net. The Caps won only two of the 14 first-period face-offs, and they killed off the lone penalty of the game’s initial period.
The Caps had their first power play of the game early in the second, and Hutson was on the ice to start the man advantage. Washington’s man advantage didn’t produce a shot, but the beleaguered extra man unit looked better to the eye despite not getting any shots on Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark.
Just before the midpoint of the middle period, the Caps jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Ovechkin netted career goal No. 922 – and his first goal on home ice since Jan. 7 – on a heady play by Rasmus Sandin.
After a brief puck battle along the left half wall in Ottawa ice, the puck popped loose and rolled across to the weak side where Sandin collected it and put it on his forehand. Seeing Ovechkin going toward the net, Sandin put it in a perfect spot for Ovechkin to redirect it to the shelf for a 1-0 Washington lead at 8:49.
In the back half of the frame, the Caps doubled their advantage. In the midst of a strong offensive zone shift, P-L Dubois put the puck to the right point for Trevor van Riemsdyk. The veteran defender spotted Wilson with some space on the left side, and he fed him perfectly down low. From just below the left dot, Wilson whipped a shot past Ullmark for a 2-0 Washington lead at 18:13.
In the third, the Caps kept the desperate Sens off the board until they pulled Ullmark for an extra attacker. That’s when Ottawa’s Tim Stützle spoiled Thompson’s shutout bid, scoring on a goalmouth scramble with 2:41 left in regulation.
Aliaksei Protas’ empty-net goal at 18:28 restored the Caps’ two-goal cushion, and when Ottawa’s Tyler Kleven was boxed for hi-sticking Anthony Beauvillier a few seconds later, the Caps went on the power play and Ullmark went back in the net.
The Sens got Ullmark out for an extra attacker again, and when Hutson carried the puck out of Washington ice, he was looking around for a passing option, but he was ultimately left with no choice but to bury it for his first NHL goal.
“I couldn’t pass it to him if [I] tried,” says Hutson, asked if he saw McMichael. “He had no stick on the ice. He wanted me to just take it all the way in, so I kind of had to.”
“And credit to Connor McMichael, too,” says Carbery. “Because Mikey is going on a 2-on-1, and he is doing everything but pulling flares out, saying, ‘Do not pass to me the puck.’ And I can see him hand signaling like, ‘No, do not even think about passing it over to me.’
“So, credit [to] him for doing that for Cole, and him shooting it into the net in his first NHL game. It will go down as a power-play goal, and that’s pretty cool. It was a special night. He did a lot of good things, and to cap it off with a goal is pretty impressive.”
Hutson says he was nervous all night, but that’s not what Carbery or his teammates saw.
“He's smooth with the puck,” says Wilson. “It's a funny feeling when you have a first-year, first-game guy, and you know he's got the puck back there, and you're just confident that, you know he's going to make the right play and he's going to do good things with it. It's a pretty cool feeling when a kid comes in with that much poise and can make plays, and you can just see the see the potential.”
“He looks really good, especially for a young guy in his first game,” says Thompson. “A lot of poise, and I felt like he fit right in. He didn’t look nervous at all for his first game, and I think he’s got a bright future in the NHL and here with the Washington Capitals.”
