This Date in Caps History - December 28

On December 28, 1979, the Washington Capitals defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 at the Capital Centre in Landover.

Mike Kaszycki - acquired just weeks earlier from the Islanders - opened the scoring for Washington with a goal at 5:44 of the first period. Linemates Tom Rowe and Guy Charron assisted. Just 25 seconds later, Kaszycki struck again and was again assisted by Rowe and Charron. Chicago's Bob Murray brought the Hawks to within one when he scored at 7:16 of the first to close out the scoring for the period. Washington launched 11 shots at Chicago's Tony Esposito while the Hawks had seven against the Capitals' Rollie Boutin.

The Capitals regained their two-goal cushion on Bengt Gustafsson's unassisted shorthanded goal at 1:58 of the second period. At 19:21 of the middle frame, Gustafsson and Charron set up Robert Picard for a power play goal that gave the Capitals a 4-1 lead. Each team had nine shots on goal in the middle period.

Picard and Mike Gartner set up Ryan Walter's goal at 5:12 of the third period. Walter's tally gave the Capitals a commanding 5-1 lead. Murray's second goal of the game came at 7:49 and pulled the Hawks within three. Gartner closed out the scoring with a power play goal at 16:07. Walter and Picard assisted on the Gartner goal. The Caps outshot the Hawks 14-9 in the third and 34-25 on the evening.

With a goal and an assist, Walter was the game's number one star. Picard had a goal and two assists, enough to take the second star. Although he was pointless on the evening, Washington defenseman Pierre Bouchard garnered the third star on the strength of his solid defensive play.