St. Louis Blues vs Washington Capitals Match Player Stats On Jan 18, 2024

T.J. Oshie scored his sixth career hat trick to lead the Washington Capitals past the visiting St. Louis Blues 5-2 on Thursday.

The Capitals came into the game with the NHL's 30th-ranked power play (13.3 percent), but they converted 2 of 4 man-advantage opportunities against the Blues. St. Louis failed on all five of its power plays.

Dylan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who won for the fourth time in six games. Nicolas Aube-Kubel also scored for Washington, John Carlson and Max Pacioretty had two assists, and Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves.

Nathan Walker scored twice for the Blues, who are 1-3-1 in their past five games. St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington stopped 21 shots.

Washington capitalized on a neutral-zone turnover by the Blues to take a 1-0 lead on a power play midway through the first period. Oshie took a pass from Pacioretty, broke in on left wing, cut to the middle on his forehand and beat Binnington from the slot.

The Blues tied the game 1-1 with 2:06 left in the opening period. Colton Parayko circled the net and rotated the puck back to Nick Leddy at the left point. Leddy fired a long snap shot that Walker deflected off the skate of Capitals defenseman Ethan Bear.

The Capitals moved ahead 2-1 at the 3:32 mark of the second period. Aube-Kubel fired a cross-ice pass that caromed off Faulk into the net.

Oshie scored his second power-play goal to make it 3-1 midway through the second period. Strome set up Oshie with a centering pass to the slot from behind the net.

Washington pushed its lead to 4-1 just after a power play expired 34 seconds into the third period. Alexander Ovechkin hammered a shot from the left circle, and Strome converted the rebound.

Walker cut the deficit to 4-2 at 4:01 of the third, tipping in a Justin Faulk slap shot from the right point through heavy traffic.

Oshie iced the game when he scored an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left.

--Field Level Media