The Washington Capitals have secured their first regulation win of the season in just their second game, something they didn’t do until their sixth game last year. The 4-2 victory on Tuesday night came over a Vegas Golden Knights team that arrived in DC after winning three in a row to start their 2024-25 schedule.
Washington used a dominant second period and refreshing five-on-five play to earn an impressive two points. The win came in the middle game of a three-game homestand to start the season.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-10-15:#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ed4iN1ou4o
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 16, 2024
- I said on Twitter postgame that it genuinely felt like the Capitals had just played a more complete game against Vegas than they did against any team last season. While that may be hyperbolic and just my early-season optimism talking, nearly 300 of you seemingly agreed. Washington was particularly phenomenal in the second frame, creating 16 scoring chances and 10 high-danger chances at five-on-five. They scored three goals in a 3:07 stretch and then put the defensive clamps on Vegas for the rest of the night. The Golden Knights created just one high-danger chance in the third period.
- Throughout games, I love checking out Natural Stat Trick (an invaluable resource) to see how certain players are getting on at five-on-five. Each time I checked on Tuesday night, Nic Dowd’s line, featuring Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, and Taylor Raddysh, jumped off the page. At the end of regulation, the three had started zero shifts in the offensive zone yet absolutely dominated Vegas. With Dowd on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals held positive differentials in shot attempts (+7), scoring chances (+13), and high-danger chances (+6). They gave up just one scoring chance, zero high-danger chances, and also scored two goals during those minutes. Absurdly good.
- After a quiet season opener, the big man was back doing more big-man things. Alex Ovechkin was the only Caps skater to net more than one point, and his two assists gave him 700 in his career. With the milestone, Ovi became only the sixth player in NHL history with 700-plus goals and 700 assists. He also fired a game-high six shots on goal and threw a game-high six hits.
427 of Ovechkin's 700 career assists are primaries (61.0%), including his milestone-marking 700th assist tonight vs. Vegas. Among the seven active players with 700 career assists, Ovechkin's percentage of primary assists is the fourth highest.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 16, 2024
- The best moment of the night was easily Jakub Vrana scoring on his first official shot back with the Capitals. While Vrana’s goal was tremendous, I’m not sure his inclusion solved the third-line woes that Spencer Carbery was partially trying to manage by subbing him for Sonny Milano. They played just 5:52 of combined five-on-five ice time, and Washington recorded just two shot attempts during those minutes. Andrew Mangiapane is one of the team’s best assets, so getting him just 9:22 of total five-on-five ice time probably can’t keep happening.
- Jakob Chychrun was fantastic in the win, recording his first goal with Washington in the second period. His pairing with John Carlson was nearly untouchable in the offensive zone, helping create some of the most prolonged cycles of possession in the Vegas end. The two ended up with two points (1g, 1a), 13 individual shot attempts, and seven individual scoring chances.
- Logan Thompson earned his first win with Washington against the team that traded him to the Capitals in June. Per MoneyPuck, Thompson stopped 0.61 more goals than expected in his 24-save victory.
- After time expired, the only issue I had was the number of low-energy goal songs. I’m all for letting players express themselves and show personality, but can we get them to pick goal songs that don’t make me want to fall asleep?
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
