ARLINGTON, VA — After falling 5-3 to the New Jersey Devils in their Home Opener, the Washington Capitals will look to rebound Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights. However, Vegas will likely prove a formidable opponent, starting the 2024-25 season with a 3-0-0 record.
The Golden Knights have averaged five goals in their three games, largely thanks to a strong top line of Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery highlighted the trio’s success after Tuesday’s morning skate.
“[They’re an] elite team,” he said. “The top line’s as good as — right now, it’s a tiny sample size, but if you go back years — as good as, right up there with some of the top lines in the NHL with McDavid’s line, MacKinnon’s line, those guys. So [Jack] Eichel and Mark Stone, and [Ivan] Barbashev has complimented them well, having a real good start. So they’ll be a handful.”
The trio has tallied six goals and 14 total points at five-on-five so far, with Eichel and Stone registering an additional 4 combined points on the power play. Washington’s bigger challenge, however, may come against Vegas’ strong defense. Carbery pointed to size and netfront presence as particular obstacles.
“Their D, what I find with them, one of the main reasons that I see why they’re such a good defensive team: their D are all long and big,” he said. “And it’s very, very hard to get to the interior against the Vegas Golden Knights. So they just control that space inside the defensive zone in front of their net and in the dangerous scoring area. And they make it really, really difficult, A, to get in there, B, to get pucks in there, and C, to find a secondary chance inside there.
“And they do a good job of getting in shot lanes. They do a great job of boxing out. And then when a puck does get in there, they’re extremely hard with numbers, underneath sticks. And usually, it’s a one-and-done situation. So that’s a recipe for a lot of success.”
Washington and Vegas split their season series in 2023-24 with two lopsided games: Charlie Lindgren posted a 3-0 shutout at home in November before Vegas recorded a 4-1 victory a month later.
Even against weaker defensive teams, Washington’s struggling offense weighed on much of last season. The lack of production led to an aggressive offseason retool that brought in players like Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun, and Andrew Mangiapane in hopes of increasing scoring. Still, to beat Vegas, Carbery believes his team will need to choose its offensive moments wisely.
“You have to be willing to go to [the interior]. And then you’re going to have to put your big boy pants on tonight. And playing against Brayden McNabb and [Alex] Pietrangelo and [Noah] Hanifin, we’re going to have to be able to get inside there with numbers, and you’re going to have to win a couple pucks. You’re going to have to be able to find a secondary chance. Or maybe it’s a puck recovery, and then we get it back. You’ve got to be really smart with the pucks that you get in there.
“If you throw any quote-unquote ‘half-hearted, back-foot sifters’ in there, those usually are going the other way. And they’re just going to transition those pucks. So you have to be very deliberate with what you’re going to shoot to the net. It doesn’t mean that it has to go in. It just can’t be something that they can just knock down and transition the other way. Because they’re good at owning that space, and a lot of times, they’ll throw a puck in there, they’ll grab it, they’ll block it with their shin pads, and it’s going the other way. And your shift’s over in the offensive zone.”
The Capitals’ schedule won’t get much easier after Tuesday night’s contest against the Golden Knights. Washington will play four of their remaining eight games in October against 2024 playoff teams, plus another two against the Philadelphia Flyers, who the Capitals just edged out for a playoff spot in Game 82 of the regular season.
Washington will look to earn their first win of the season when the puck drops against the Golden Knights at 7 pm inside Capital One Arena.
