Thompson makes 34 saves, Capitals defeat Senators

WASHINGTON -- Logan Thompson made 34 saves, and Cole Hutson scored in his NHL debut for the Washington Capitals in a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.

Hutson, a second-round pick (No. 43) by the Capitals in the 2024 NHL Draft, completed his sophomore season at Boston University with a 5-3 loss to the University of Connecticut in the Hockey East quarterfinals on Saturday. He signed a three-year entry-level contract on Sunday and capped his first NHL game by scoring an empty-net goal during a power play with 26 seconds remaining.

“I thought he was phenomenal,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said of Hutson. “I thought right from the first shift, we wanted to get him out there as quickly as we could and start him in the game, first shift was as good a first shift as we've had all year. … 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 Capitals jersey.”

Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas also scored for the Capitals (34-27-8), who are 3-1-1 in their past five. They are six points back for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Ovechkin recorded his 20th career 25-goal season and tied Gordie Howe for the most in NHL history.

“I think we kind of just out-battled them,” Wilson said. “We were on our toes. We played hard. We won our battles. We played smart, and we executed well and had good energy. So, it was it was a solid game.”

Tim Stutzle scored the lone goal for the Senators (34-24-9), who had won five of six and remained five points back points back for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference. Linus Ullmark made 21 saves.

“We didn’t like our game but at the end of the day we had a lot of chances, and we could have scored a lot of goals,” Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot said. “You’ve got to give Thompson lots of credit. Played well, made some big saves.”

The Senators outshot the Capitals 16-7 in a scoreless first period.

“I thought [Thompson] was as dialed as I've seen him all year long,” Carbery said. They had a bunch of looks right on top of him, too, a lot of backdoor stuff. The penalty kill (3-for-3) was tremendous tonight and he was a big part of that. … So, he plays a big part in us getting two points tonight, no doubt.”

Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 8:09 of the second period. Rasmus Sandin's pass from the right point deflected off Ovechkin's right skate in the slot and then ramped up off the stick blade of Ottawa defenseman Artem Zub past Ullmark's blocker.

It was Ovechkin's 999th career total goal (regular season & playoffs), leaving him one away from joining Wayne Gretzky (1,016) as the only players in League history with 1,000 combined goals.

Wilson made it 2-0 at 18:13 when he collected a cross-ice pass from Trevor van Riemsdyk and buried a wrist shot from the bottom of the left face-off circle.

“We probably did enough to win,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “I thought 10 minutes in the second we weren’t at our best and give their team credit. They played well. … We had more than enough chances to score two to four goals probably. Disappointing loss.”

With Ullmark pulled for the extra attacker, Stutzle cut the deficit to 2-1 at 17:19 of the third period. Claude Giroux sent a shot on net and Stutzle deflected the puck through Thompson's pads from in front.

Protas pushed the lead to 3-1 with an empty-net goal at 18:28, and Hutson scored to secure the 4-1 final at 19:34.

“Yeah, I was pumped,” Hutson said. “Didn't really want to shoot it to be honest. I was looking to pass the whole time, but you’ve got to get your first one eventually. So, just happy it went in.”

NOTES: Ovechkin is the League’s sixth player with 25 goals in a season at age 40 or older, following Howe (44 in 1968-69 and 31 in 1969-70), Johnny Bucyk (36 in 1975-76), Teemu Selanne (31 in 2010-11 and 26 in 2011-12), Jaromir Jagr (27 in 2015-16) and Dean Prentice (26 in 1972-73). ... Hutson became the fourth defenseman in Capitals history to score in his NHL debut. The only others are Christian Djoos  (Oct. 11, 2017), Steve Poapst (Apr. 10, 1996) and Scott Stevens (Oct. 6, 1982). … Washington forward Anthony Beauvillier played in his 700th NHL game. ... The Capitals are 7-1-1 in their past nine home games. … The Senators had earned points in six straight regular season games (4-0-2) against Washington dating back to April 7, 2024.