Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals fell to the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 3-2 at United Center on Tuesday. Washington has lost two straight after their nine-game point (8-0-1) and 10-game road winning streaks were both snapped in a 3-1 loss to the Dallas Stars the previous night. Washington fell to 21-8-2 (.710 points percentage) this season. Goaltender Logan Thompson made 20 saves in the loss.

Washington’s Lines

Connor McMichael — Dylan Strome — Taylor Raddysh
Aliaksei Protas — Pierre-Luc Dubois — Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana — Lars Eller — Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime — Nic Dowd — Ivan Miroshnichenko

Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin — Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Thompson
Charlie Lindgren

Scratched

• D Dylan McIlrath
• D Alexander Alexeyev
• C Hendrix Lapierre

Injured

• LW Alex Ovechkin (fractured fibula)
• LW Sonny Milano (upper-body)
• C Nicklas Backstrom (hip)
• RW T.J. Oshie (back)

Protas played in his 200th career NHL game.

Chicago’s Lines

Nick Foligno — Connor Bedard — Ryan Donato
Taylor Hall — Frank Nazar — Tyler Bertuzzi
Teuvo Teravainen — Jason Dickinson — Ilya Mikheyev
Pat Maroon — Lukas Reichel — Joey Anderson

Alex Vlasic — Louis Crevier
Nolan Allan — Connor Murphy
Kevin Korchinski — T.J. Brodie

Arvid Söderblom
Drew Commesso

Scratched

• D Wyatt Kaiser
• LW Philipp Kurashev

Injured

• D Seth Jones (foot)
• G Laurent Brossoit (lower-body)
• G Petr Mrazek (groin)
• D Alec Martinez (upper-body)
• RW Craig Smith (lower-body)

First Period

Scoring

• 4:16, 1-0 Washington: Wilson got the puck at the defensive blueline, chipped the puck ahead, and Dubois ripped off Crevier and beat him to the net before wristing one through the five hole of Söderblom. The shot squeaked past him and over the goal line. Dubois has recorded eight points (three goals) in his last eight games. Dubois has recorded 15 points (nine goals) in 17 career games against Chicago.

#ALLCAPS 1-0. CHICAGO DEFENSEMAN LETS DUBOIS WALK IN AND SCORES JUST BARELY pic.twitter.com/J8h5nGmyy3

— x – Capitals Replays 🍁 (@capsreplays) December 18, 2024

• 13:18, 2-0: After getting a feed from Eller, Mangiapane dangled threw his own legs around Brodie while skating down the right wing, took the puck to the net, got Söderblom down, and fired one into an open cage. Five of Mangiapane’s seven goals this season have come on the road. Six of Eller’s seven assists have been primaries.

#ALLCAPS 2-0. HOLY MOLY MANGIAPANE. DANGLICIOUS pic.twitter.com/Twm7vvLoNX

— x – Capitals Replays 🍁 (@capsreplays) December 18, 2024

Stats

• 9-5 Chicago in shots
• .75 Washington on faceoffs
• Chicago did not score on their first power play
• 8-3 Washington in hits
• 5-5 in blocked shots
• 7-5 Washington in giveaways
• 2-0 Chicago in takeaways

Second Period

Scoring

• N/A

Stats

• 18-11 Chicago in shots
  • including 9-6 in the period
• Chicago failed to convert on three power plays in the second
  • Washington did not on their first opportunity
• 10-7 Washington in hits
• 13-5 Washington in blocked shots
• 13-10 Washington in giveaways
• 2-0 Chicago in takeaways

Graphs: Natural StatTrick

Third Period

Scoring

• 0:51, 2-1 (SHG): After Chychrun left the puck at the offensive blueline, Mikheyev raced the other way, got around Chychrun, fought off Wilson behind him, went to his backhand, and roofed one top right corner on Thompson.

Great move by Ilya Mikheyev for the shorthanded tally! 😤 pic.twitter.com/wXZ8ZNZdHr

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 18, 2024

• 14:07, 2-2: Brodie wristed one under the blocker of Thompson from the right dot after Mikheyev skated down the wing, circled back, waited for an open man, and threw the puck back to Brodie.

TJ Brodie scores his second goal of the season, which is now tied for the team lead among defensemen. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/rbqqXMKcvC

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 18, 2024

• 17:42, 3-2 Chicago: Donato retrieved a loose puck, spun on Carlson in the right corner, took the puck to the net, and beat Lindgren to the left pad.

RYAN DONATO GIVES THE HAWKS THE LEAD LATE AFTER BEING DOWN 2-0 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Soy1VULKAN

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) December 18, 2024

Stats

• 23-21 Chicago in shots
  • 10-5 Washington in the third period
• .614 Washington on faceoffs
• Washington finished 0-for-three on the power play
  • Chicago did not score on four
• 13-12 Chicago in hits
• 15-13 Washington in blocked shots
• 17-15 Washington in giveaways
• 4-0 Chicago in takeaways

Washington fell a point behind the New Jersey Devils for the Metropolitan Division lead but has three games in hand. They are also three clear of the Carolina Hurricanes with both having played 31 games.

Next game: Friday vs. Carolina (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market)