The Washington Capitals were without winger T.J. Oshie, defenseman Martin Fehervary, center Nic Dowd, defenseman Nick Jensen and winger Sonny Milano, all of whom are written into the lineup in ink when healthy.
Washington
Shorthanded Capitals keep pushing, start back-to-back with dominant win
None of that mattered to the Capitals, who matched their season high with six goals to beat the Senators, 6-3. They were led by a three-point game from forward Aliaksei Protas, the first multi-goal game of center Hendrix Lapierre’s career and a power-play tally by winger Max Pacioretty that ended a 17-game goal drought.
With the win, its fourth in five games, Washington moved into fourth place in the Metropolitan Division, four points back of the third-place Philadelphia Flyers with two games in hand.
“Through this stretch, I think you’re seeing a lot more goals because we’re playing a lot better,” defenseman John Carlson said. “We’re doing the right things and going to the right spots. You get rewarded for that. … If we want to get in this thing, like we do, there’s a lot of teams hunting that down. We don’t have time to think about it.”
Defense and goaltending seemed to be optional Monday night. Washington netminder Darcy Kuemper made 18 saves on 21 shots; Anton Forsberg and Joonas Korpisalo combined to stop 14 of 20 shots for Ottawa.
The Capitals jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first 8:30, getting goals from Protas, who completed a backhand finish on a two-on-one with winger Anthony Mantha, and Carlson, who scored on a quick-trigger wrist shot after center Dylan Strome won a faceoff on the power play.
Carlson’s goal came seconds after he was honored for becoming Washington’s franchise leader in games played by a defenseman at 984, eclipsing Calle Johansson.
“It was a cool little moment, especially after all that,” Carlson said. “It was just one of those things you can’t make up. Good things happen sometimes.”
But the lead evaporated even quicker than it was built: Ottawa’s Drake Batherson and Shane Pinto scored less than three minutes apart to bring the score level with 12:41 left in the period.
Pacioretty’s goal, his second of the season and first since Jan. 11, gave Washington the lead back with 1:27 left in the period. Winger Beck Malenstyn scored just 14 seconds later to double the lead heading into the first intermission.
“I thought it was going to settle in from that point [at 2-2] because it gets sort of back to level, but we answered right there with those two late in the first period and took control of that game,” Capitals Coach Spencer Carbery said. “And still, there was a few instances where it almost went to 4-3 where it felt like we might be in something where it’s going to go back and forth, but our guys did a good job.”
The two-goal cushion was needed after Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk cut the Capitals’ lead in half 1:27 into the second period. That was as close as Ottawa came the rest of the way.
Lapierre, whom the Capitals recalled from the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears on Friday, scored the first of his two goals just 31 seconds after Tkachuk’s tally, capitalizing on a rebound at the far post. For his second goal, which stretched the Capitals’ lead to three, Lapierre finished a give-and-go with Mantha at 10:55 for a highlight-reel goal to pair with his workmanlike first tally.
With both teams on the front end of a back-to-back — the Capitals visit the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, while the Senators will play in Nashville — the third period was a grind, standing in stark contrast to the first 40 minutes. The teams combined for just 10 shots on goal as they glided toward the finish line.
Lapierre, who was last with the Capitals when they were in the midst of an ugly road trip through the Central Division that began a six-game losing streak, feels the difference a month later.
“We played a really mature and composed third period,” he said. “It’s not easy to be up by three and have to manage all that. But this group, they’ve been there, right? They know what it is, and they want to get there. You can definitely feel it in the air.”
Here’s what else to know about the Capitals’ win:
Oshie is considered “week-to-week” with an upper-body injury; he left Thursday’s win at Tampa Bay after going down without contact in the third period. Jensen was a game-time decision with a lower-body injury and did not play. Milano was a late scratch with an illness.
Fehervary (lower body, week-to-week) and Dowd (upper body, day-to-day) skated Monday morning in noncontact jerseys. Carbery said he would “like to see them potentially, maybe” join the Capitals for practice Thursday, their next full skate following Tuesday’s game in Detroit and a day off Wednesday.
Winger Ivan Miroshnichenko was recalled from Hershey to give the Capitals an extra forward for the back-to-back but was a healthy scratch against the Senators. To make room on the roster, Oshie was placed on injured reserve.
Washington
Suspect in National Guard shooting faces new federal charges that allow death penalty discussions
WASHINGTON — A man accused of shooting two National Guard troops near the White House has been charged in a complaint with federal firearms charges in connection with the ambush on November 26 that fatally wounded one of the West Virginia National Guard members and seriously injured the second.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, has been charged with transporting a firearm in interstate commerce with the intent to commit an offense punishable for more than one year. He has also been charged federally with transporting a stolen firearm in interstate commerce.
“The transfer of this case from Superior Court to District Court ensures that we can undertake the serious, deliberate, and weighty analysis required to determine if the death penalty is appropriate here,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. “Sarah Beckstrom was just 20 years old when she was killed and her parents are now forced to endure the holiday season without their daughter. Andrew Wolfe, by the grace of God, survived but has a long road ahead in his recovery.”
Lakanwal remains charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to kill and illegal possession of a firearm in the shooting that killed Beckstrom, 20, and wounded Wolfe, 24, in violation of D.C. code. Lakanwal, who was shot during the encounter, has pleaded not guilty to the D.C. charges.
There is no death penalty in D.C. Superior Court.
Beckstrom and Wolfe were deployed with the West Virginia National Guard for President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, which has flooded the city with federal agents and troops since August. Lakanwal is accused of driving from Bellingham, Washington to Washington, D.C. while in possession of a stolen firearm and ambushing the two Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House.
An Afghan national, Laknawal worked with the American government, including the CIA, “as a member of a partner force” in Kandahar, Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said.
Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, officials said. That Biden administration program evacuated and resettled tens of thousands of Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal from the country.
Lakanwal’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.
The video in the player above is from an earlier report.
Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Washington
Video Shows Moment Man Carjacks Washington State Patrol Lieutenant’s Car
TMZ.com
Here’s an easy way to find yourself on the naughty list … a man in Seattle is in police custody after stealing a patrol car from a Washington State Patrol lieutenant … and only TMZ has video of the suspect shoving the cop to the ground and taking off in her car.
We obtained footage showing a man casually crossing a busy Interstate-5 in Seattle when a WSP patrol car shows up … the guy stops in his tracks, paces around, then goes up to the driver side door and yanks the cop out of the car. He pushes her to the freeway pavement, then gets behind the wheel and speeds off.
That’s where our wild video ends, but the story doesn’t end there … because an intense police pursuit ensued … and it ended with WSP officers pinning the car and taking the guy into custody.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson tells TMZ … the female lieutenant from the video was not injured and she will not be reprimanded for the incident.
This all started just before noon on Christmas Day … and we’re told the guy is now getting grilled by detectives. Sounds like he’s having a not-so-merry Christmas.
Washington
RFK Jr. declares public health emergency for Washington state flooding
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A road is covered by floodwaters after heavy rains led to historic flooding in the region Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Burlington, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson / AP
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared a public health emergency Wednesday over this month’s flooding in Washington state.
The action from Kennedy, the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is focused on helping meet the needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. As part of that, his agency is providing access to HHS emPOWER, which gives data on the number of Medicare enrollees reliant on medical equipment dependent on electricity and other health care services that could make them especially vulnerable to a disaster. The announcement could be a good sign for the state’s chances of getting a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump to potentially open up tens of millions of dollars to deal with the flooding’s aftermath.
Gov. Bob Ferguson plans to ask for such a declaration in the coming weeks.
The flooding from heavy rain and overflowing rivers forced thousands of evacuations, breached multiple levees and damaged numerous highways. It still didn’t quite reach the levels some forecasts predicted. One person has been reported dead.
Kennedy’s order follows an emergency declaration from Trump that unlocked federal resources to respond to the storm.
John Knox, of the department’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, said in a statement that, “HHS stands ready to assist state and local response efforts in the state of Washington due to the potential health care impacts from severe storms.” Health and Human Services has also waived penalties for violating federal health privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, for hospitals.
“With today’s declaration and waiver, HHS is helping ensure that residents in the storm’s path have continuous access to the care they need during and after this storm,” Knox said. “ASPR’s highly trained personnel are prepared to support state and local actions to save lives and protect the delivery of health care services.”
The federal Disaster Distress Helpline is also available for crisis counseling. The multilingual hotline, open 24 hours a day, can be reached via call or text at 1-800-985-5990.
The declaration is retroactive to Dec. 9.
A windstorm forecast to arrive in western Washington on Wednesday could exacerbate problems, as saturated soil from the recent rain could make trees and powerline poles especially susceptible to falling over. But the wind is now not expected to be as intense as predicted earlier this week. Meanwhile, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit with other states against Kennedy on Tuesday for his threats against gender-affirming care providers.
Brown called Kennedy’s move “as cruel and unnecessary as it is illegal, but consistent with an administration that puts politics above health.” It’s Washington’s 49th lawsuit against the federal government since Trump retook office in January.
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships.
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