The Washington Capitals are one of the oldest and most injury-prone teams in the NHL. They’ve also had a very difficult schedule to start the season. As a result of both factors, they’ve sometimes seemed like a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde team.
In October and November, the Capitals won 10 games out of 24. Then, just in December alone, they won 11 of 15.
We’ve seen that play out on the team’s road record as well. After defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2 on Thursday, the Washington Capitals set a new franchise record with their seventh straight road victory.
𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑𝐒#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/3ztRLIsxxf
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 6, 2023
If you can’t read the tiny grey text, this is how the Capitals did it:
Dec. 5, 2022 at Edmonton Oilers: 3-2 W
Dec. 7, 2022 at Philadelphia Flyers: 4-1 W
Dec. 11, 2022 at Winnipeg Jets: 5-2 W
Dec. 13, 2022 at Chicago Blackhawks: 7-3 W
Dec. 22, 2022 at Ottawa Senators: 3-2 (OT) W
Dec. 27, 2022 at New York Rangers: 4-0 W
Jan. 5, 2023 at Columbus Blue Jackets: 6-2 W
The Capitals tweeted that they are ROAD WARRIORS, and lately they sure have been. During this stretch they have outscored their opponents 32 to 12 (or 4.6 to 1.7 per game). They have bailamos‘d three different times (i.e. scoring five or more goals in a game).
Except the teams Washington has beaten are teams they absolutely should be beating. Their defeated opponents have an average standings-points pace of 79.7, 15 points below a common cutoff for playoff contention. The most difficult team they beat was Winnipeg, who is currently on pace for 106 standings points. The only other team they beat above 90 was the New York Rangers (now at 103).
The Capitals’ seven-straight road wins follows a dreadful stretch from October to November in which they lost six straight away from Capital One Arena.
Oct. 31, 2022 at Carolina Hurricanes: 3-2 (SO) L
Nov. 3, 2022 at Detroit Red Wings: 3-1 L
Nov. 13, 2022 at Tampa Bay Lightning: 6-3 L
Nov. 15, 2022 at Florida Panthers: 5-2 L
Nov. 17, 2022 at St. Louis Blues: 5-4 (SO) L
Nov. 26, 2022 at New Jersey Devils: 5-1 L
The Capitals were outscored 25-13 in that run, with opponents scoring 4.2 goals per game to the Caps’ 2.2. But those opponents were also far better. The average standings-points pace of those six different teams was 97.4.
The Capitals’ recent good stretch of play on the road has pushed their away record over .500, to 10-8-3 overall. For a team that made the playoffs last season due to its play on the road (25-10-6 away vs. 19-16-6 home), this is a welcome development. They’ll need to keep it up to make the postseason for a ninth straight year.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
