Takeaways: Dubois, Thompson Help Capitals Edge Canucks In Chippy Win

WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals got off to the start they wanted against the Vancouver Canucks; it was the rest of the night didn’t go as planned. But thanks to Pierre-Luc Dubois, D.C. managed two points.

Dubois struck twice and Logan Thompson stood on his head to help Washington escape with a 2-1 victory.

Here are all the takeaways from the win.

Dubois Stays Hot To Power Capitals To win; Struggles Continue Despite Shake Up On Top-6

With the Capitals looking to spark their 5-on-5 scoring, coach Spencer Carbery reverted to the lines that the team was using earlier in the year, shaking up the top-6 and reuniting Aliaksei Protas with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome while Connor McMichael went back to work with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson.

Despite breaking up, the second line kept momentum going, and opened the scoring for Washington.

With 32 seconds left in the first, McMichael helped keep the puck alive while Dubois drove to the front. Dubois then caught an errant puck out of mid-air before backhanding it past Kevin Lankinen to make it 1-0.

It marked Dubois' sixth goal of the season, and he now has points in 10 of his last 11 games while remaining on pace for 64 points.

While Dubois was able to keep his hot streak alive, the swaps to the top-6 didn't ignite the change Carbery was looking for, as Ovechkin and Strome again struggled to get much going together.

Ultimately, passes just failed to click as the Canucks held down the fort and prevented a lot of scoring chances or shots, and there weren't really any high quality chances at even strength or on the power play, which went 0-for-2.

In the end, though, Dubois won things in OT with his second of the game and sevneth of the season off a feed from Aliaksei Protas.

Capitals Fall Apart In Second, But Logan Thompson Keeps Capitals In It On Way To Win

In the throes of a tough stretch of late, the Capitals haven't been able to find consistency through 60 minutes, and they struggled with that again on Wednesday.

Leading 1-0 after a low-event first period, Washington let Vancouver tilt the ice in the second. The Canucks, who had just three shots through the first 20 controlled most of the play, and ultimately, outshot D.C. 21-4 in the second as the Capitals failed to get much going in the way of offense while spending the majority of the time in their own zone.

Logan Thompson did what he could, standing on his head to keep the Canucks at bay, but with the seconds ticking down until the third, Connor Garland buried a rebound past Thompson to even the score.

Though things quieted down in the third, Vancouver still outshot Washington, 30-15, while holding Alex Ovechkin and the team off the board.

Ultimately, it was Thompson's performance that helped D.C. extend its point streak to five games, as he stopped 30 of 31 in the gvictory.

Top Shelf Takes

- Matt Roy picked up an assist as he played in his 400th career NHL game.

- It was a chippy game with several roughing calls and hits along the way.