The Washington Capitals have won four straight and are 4-1 to start the 2024-25 campaign. Their latest win came against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, a measured, smothering 4-1 effort.
Washington scored at all strengths…except on the power play. But the number one rule about the power play is that we don’t talk about the power play.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-10-22:#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/dKFZGGdTdE
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 23, 2024
- The Capitals started this one slow, which has become a bit of a theme early this season, but they finished with the same aplomb they have in a few of their other wins. Head coach Spencer Carbery celebrated their third period during his postgame speech, and for good reason. Despite leading from the outset, the Caps controlled five-on-five play in the final frame and did not give up a single Flyers high-danger chance. Early season returns at five-on-five through five games are fantastic, with Washington controlling 52.3 percent of the shot attempts, 57 percent of the expected goals, 55.9 percent of the scoring chances, and 57.1 percent of the high-danger chances.
- I have to say that Jakob Chychrun has been even better than I thought his best with the Caps would be. The sample size is small, but he has formed what is legitimately one of the best top pairings in the league with John Carlson. The two combined for two goals, nine shots on goal, 13 individual shot attempts, five individual scoring chances, and a drawn penalty in Tuesday’s win. Washington created four of their six total five-on-five, high-danger chances with Chychrun on the ice. No other player, excluding Carlson (3), was on the ice for more than two.
- Connor McMichael was the only Capitals player to have a multi-point night, providing assists on Andrew Mangiapane’s and John Carlson’s goals. McMichael also had two points (1g, 1a) in the win against New Jersey and now has six points (1g, 5a) through five games, tied with Carlson and Tom Wilson for second on the team.
Tonight marked the Capitals' 100th all-time win against Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/gWtCwLR8qC
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 23, 2024
- Charlie Lindgren was superb in his second victory of the season. He made 17 stops on 18 shots, earning his fourth career win against the Flyers in six games. He has been nearly unbeatable against Philadelphia in his career, posting a 4-0-2 record with a 1.30 goals-against average, a .951 save percentage, and one shutout.
- Jakub Vrana made an excellent play to set up Chychrun’s third-period, game-sealing tally. After his forecheck created a turnover behind Philly’s net, he fed Brandon Duhaime, who then filtered possession to Chychrun at the point for the eventual snipe. The assist was the 100th of Vrana’s NHL career.
- Okay, I guess we kinda have to talk about the power play. They were 0-for-5 and never really looked like they intended to put the puck in the net. Washington did not create a single high-danger chance in all 10 of their minutes while up a man. That is impressively terrible.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
