Cole Hutson might be 20 years old, but you wouldn’t know it if you watched him on Tuesday night in Ottawa. With his team in desperate need of a lift and a spark after an abysmal second period turned a 1-0 Washington lead into a 2-1 deficit, Hutson made a terrific cross-ice feed to Pierre-Luc Dubois for the tying goal at 12:31 of the third period.
Hutson then delivered the first overtime game-winning goal of his NHL career at 1:14 of overtime, with the two teams playing 4-on-4 hockey after the expiration of an Ottawa penalty. Hutson’s overtime strike enabled the Caps to get out of Canadian Tire Center with a 3-2 win and a pair of points against an Ottawa team that outplayed the Caps, but couldn’t find a way to solve Logan Thompson more than twice.
“I think our game plan was obviously trying to hit [Alex Ovechkin],” recounts Hutson of the power play that ended just before his game-winner. “But they were cheating toward him pretty hard, so we just had to rethink things. And [Alex Tuch] was in front the whole time, so I decided to get one on net, and it went in.”
“He’s a young guy in age, but he's got the confidence of a guy with 1,000 games,” says Dubois of Hutson. “He's had an impact since he got here last year, even coming out of college, and he's improved more and more. And yeah, he's a young guy. He doesn't have many games in this league, but doesn't really matter if you can play, you can play. And he can play.”
The Caps couldn’t have prevailed on Tuesday without a vintage outing from Logan Thompson between the pipes. Thompson was at his best – stopping 14 of 16 shots – when his teammates were scuffling their way through the second period.
“From warmup on, I felt more like myself today,” says Thompson. “I’ve just been trying to find some positives and solutions, and been getting back to work in practice. But it was a good game, and the guys, especially in that first period, I think we over 10 blocked shots, so they were they were huge for me to settle in this game.”
For the second time in as many games, the Caps jumped out to an early lead on their first shot on goal of the contest. Just 35 seconds after the opening puck drop, Matt Roy took a cross-ice feed from partner Jakob Chychrun and drilled a hard, low shot from the right point that eluded Ottawa netminder Samuel Ersson.
Seven different skaters from each side took draws, each team had a pair of unproductive power plays, each team hit iron with a good look at the net, Tom Wilson for Washington and Dylan Cozens for Ottawa. The two teams split the 20 first-period face-offs down the middle, and the Caps laid out to block 14 shots in front of Thompson. Thompson’s best stop of the period was a one-on-one denial of Sens star Tim Stutzle from in close.
Although the Caps held an 11-5 advantage in shots on net after the first, there was a bit of fool’s gold to that stat. The Senators had more zone time, and the Caps were struggling some in their own end, an issue that was papered over by Thompson and the shots blocked in front of him.
There was no doubt as to who won the second period; it was the Sens. Washington was limited to just two shots on net, and none in the final 14 minutes and 31 seconds of the frame. Boone Jenner put a shot on net from neutral ice early in the period and Jack St. Ivany sent a 58-footer on Ersson at 5:29 of the period, and that was it for the Caps, who weren’t able to establish a consistent forecheck or to stress the Sens in their own end of the ice. Washington also lost 20 of 23 draws in the middle period
Thompson made some big saves for the Caps in the second, starting with a Claude Giroux slot one-timer in the first minute. Just after the midpoint of the middle period, he thwarted a Cozens rush bid from the right circle.
But after Washington missed connecting on an exit feed, the Sens worked a tic-tac-toe play with Ridley Greig finishing with a backhander to the shelf at 11:05 of the second.
A tick less than five minutes later, Ottawa went in front, going 200 feet in a matter of seconds to do so. Jordan Spence’s stretch feed from below his own goal line started the play, and when a short-ice 2-on-1 resulted, Thomas Chabot fed Hayden Hodgson, who wristed it over Thompson to lift the Sens to a 2-1 lead at 16:04
In the back half of the second, Thompson thwarted a Jake Sanderson slot shot with his glove. And in the final minute of the period, he denied Shane Pinto’s power move to the net and stopped Phil Tomasino, who walked to the front from behind the Washington net.
And for the first time this season, the Caps were outscored by multiple goals in the middle period.
“There are so many issues with it,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery of his team’s second period. “We couldn't win a loose buck battle. Our feet weren't moving, so we're just standing around, and they had the puck the entire period.”
By the time the Caps secured their first shot of the third period, they had gone 21 minutes and 5 seconds without testing Ersson. Neither team had much happening offensively in the third; both teams were limited to three shots on net.
Washington got the break it needed when Ryan Leonard drew an interference call on Ottawa’s Stephen Halliday just seconds ahead of the midpoint of the period. The Caps couldn’t get anything going on the power play, but they managed to retain possession in Ottawa ice after Halliday was sprung from the box.
Hutson took a feed from Wilson behind the Ottawa net, and from the left circle, he spotted Dubois and found a seam to get it to him. Dubois’ one-timer beat Ersson and knotted the game at 2-2 at 12:31. Four of the five Senators on the ice had been out for nearly 90 seconds.
Late in the third, Chychrun leveled Ottawa winger Nick Cousins with a hard, heavy hit. The latter had to be aided off the ice, and in the final minute of regulation the Caps went on the power play once again when Fabian Zetterlund sailed the puck over the glass.
The Caps could not muster a shot at 5-on-4, nor could they do so in the 4-on-3 portion of the power play in overtime.
Not to worry, kid.
With Tuch standing tall in front of Ersson, Hutson circled in the offensive zone before dipping down into the right circle and letting a shot fly past Ersson. His game-winner came a dozen seconds after Zetterlund exited the box, and it came on the first shot the Caps had managed since the Dubois equalizer, a span of 8 minutes and 43 seconds.
“[Thompson] deserves a ton of credit for tonight because at 2-1, that easily could have got to 3-1, 4-1, 5-1,” says Carbery. “We hung him out to dry, and for him to keep that game at one goal to at least give us a fighting chance in the third period, that's elite goaltending at its finest right there.”
Ottawa has picked up at least a point in seven straight home games (4-0-3) against Washington, dating back to Oct. 20, 2022.
“I thought we played awesome tonight; it was one of our better games of the year,” says Sens coach Travis Green. “Last game, we didn’t play well and we won. Tonight, we deserved to get two points, not just one.”
