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Anywhere But Here: Capitals 5, Blackhawks 1

The winning streak is over and approximately everyone on the team has the flu.

Posted on by Dave Melton
Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

A flu bug sidelined both of the Hawks goalies and multiple skaters on Friday, leaving the team with a shorthanded roster that couldn’t extend the team’s winning streak, losing 5-1 at home to the Capitals.

Anthony Beauvillier scored the game’s first goal at the 4:03 mark of the first to put Washington up 1-0:

Connor McMichael added a breakaway goal later in the first to make it a 2-0 Capitals lead:

Ethen Frank added a third Capitals goal with about a minute left in the first:

Near the middle of the second period, Oliver Moore put the Hawks on the board with this power-play snipe:

But Justin Sourdif scored about four minutes later to restore Washington’s three-goal lead:

Alex Ovechkin scored the 916th goal of his illustrious NHL career in the third period for a little extra insurance that Washington absolutely did not need.

And that was that!

Notes

Wonder if this game would have unfolded differently had the Blackhawks managed to score during that 5-on-3 in the first period — it certainly wasn’t for a lack of quality scoring chances. But by the time Washington had that third goal in the first period, it felt like an insurmountable deficit when factoring in all of the other things working against the Hawks on Friday night.

Connor Bedard looked just fine during his first game in a month. He started off with Lardis and Moore but was later moved to the line with Greene and Burakovsky and ended up tied for the team lead with four shots on goal during 17:07 of ice time. Good evening for a ramp-up session given the bizarre circumstances of the day and here’s hoping the rate of production he had prior to his injury resumes very soon.

The goal Oliver Moore scored on Wednesday could be chalked up more to a subpar goalie than anything special he did. The one from this game? That’s going to beat the majority of goalies in the NHL. If he displays any measure of consistency in shooting the puck like that, then a top-six spot feels a little more attainable for him in the long run.

Once the news dropped this afternoon that Kevin Korchinski was being called up, I entertained the brief thought that this promotion coming from out of nowhere would mean there was little time for him to overthink it, leading to Korchinski playing the game of his life, and that would be the turning point in what would be a lengthy NHL career in Chicago. That did not happen, to say the least.

Rough circumstances for Commesso as well, who made some decent saves at times but also looked like an AHL goalie a few other times. The team in front didn’t do him a ton of favors: just look at where all of the Gs are in the heat map below and notice it’s all of the the prime areas where Washington was getting to before scoring its goals. The key for him will be getting back to Rockford whenever this flu bug stops wreaking havoc on the Hawks roster and continue with the solid season he’s put together with the IceHogs. But it may not be happening this weekend.

Blashill said he’s unsure what goalies will be available to him tomorrow.

— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 9:56 PM

Sharing this because it’s such an absurd number, as is 916 career goals in this era of hockey:

Drew Commesso becomes the 187th different goalie that Alex Ovechkin has scored against.

— Tom Gulitti (@tomgulittinhl.bsky.social) January 9, 2026 at 9:24 PM

An unfortunate result after a series of unfortunate events throughout the day, but at least it all happened against an Eastern Conference foe, so damage to Chicago’s place in the standings was minimal. Let’s hope this team got everything out of their system — both literally and figuratively — because Saturday’s game carries a little more weight with it being a divisional foe.

Game Charts

Three Stars

  1. Connor McMichael (WSH) — 1 goal, 1 assist
  2. Martin Fehervary (WSH) — 2 assists
  3. Oliver Moore (CHI) — 1 goal

What’s Next

The Blackhawks get no rest, hitting the road to face the Nashville Predators on Saturday night at 7 p.m.

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