The Washington Capitals are off to a hot start, winning five of their first six games to start their 2024-25 season. After sneaking into the playoffs last season with a salary cap era worst goal differential of -37, the Caps appear to have solved many of their problems and are an entirely new beast this year.
Washington (5-1-0) has not started this well since the 2015-16 season, when they won six of their first seven games en route to capturing the franchise’s third Presidents’ Trophy.
While 76 games of their schedule remains and much can change, the early results from this team are very encouraging.
The following is an assortment of facts showing how good the Capitals have been coming into Friday night’s games.
Impressive Caps numbers 6 games in
- Washington has the third-highest points percentage in the NHL and the highest mark in the Eastern Conference. The top 5 are the Winnipeg Jets (1.000%), Minnesota Wild (.857%), Washington Capitals (.833%), New York Rangers (.786%), and Calgary Flames (.786%).
Some different names at the top of the league by points percentage 👀
-Winnipeg Jets 1.000%
-Minnesota Wild .857%
-Washington Capitals .833%
-New York Rangers .786%
-Calgary Flames .786% pic.twitter.com/tX9wSCFRvz— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 25, 2024
- The Capitals have the fifth-best goal differential in the league Washington has outscored their opponents 23-13 since starting their winning streak on October 15. At this same point last year, they already had a minus-10 goal differential.
- Only two teams in the NHL are averaging more goals per game than the Capitals. Washington is scoring almost two goals more than the 2.63 average they finished the 2023-24 campaign with. They are also averaging 28.5 shots per game, two more than they averaged last year (26.5).
| Rank | Team | Goals per game |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Rangers | 4.57 |
| 2 | Winnipeg Jets | 4.43 |
| 3 | Washington Capitals | 4.33 |
| 4 | Vegas Golden Knights | 4.14 |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 4.00 |
- Washington is one of the most effective teams at five-on-five this season. From a process perspective, the Capitals have dominated at five-on-five. They are heavily above 50 percent in five important statistical categories and rank at least 8th in the league in four of five.
| Stat | Percentage | League rank |
|---|---|---|
| CF% | 52.20 | 12th |
| GF% | 61.88 | 3rd |
| xGF% | 56.76 | 4th |
| SCF% | 54.63 | 5th |
| HDCF% | 54.84 | 8th |
- The Capitals have led for the third-most amount of time in the league. Despite playing the joint fewest games in the league to this point, the Capitals rank third in the amount of time played with a lead.
| Rank | Team | Time spent leading (Games played) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota Wild | 260:54 (7) |
| 2 | New York Rangers | 247:36 (7) |
| 3 | Washington Capitals | 226:14 (6) |
| 4 | Vegas Golden Knights | 211:23 (7) |
| 5 | New Jersey Devils | 207:05 (10) |
- The Capitals have four players that are averaging a point-per-game or more. Dylan Strome (3g, 6a), Connor McMichael (3g, 5a), John Carlson (2g, 4a), and Tom Wilson (5g, 1a) are all off to great starts to the year.
- Only one skater to play in more than one game this season has zero points. The Capitals have had 18 skaters play in more than one game this season, and all but one of them, Hendrix Lapierre, has gotten on the scoresheet with a goal or an assist. Lapierre is also the only one of the 18 to be a minus player (-4).
- Capitals defensemen have produced points in all six games. After getting just 73 points from their top five defensemen outside of John Carlson last year, all of this year’s non-Carlson defenders have already combined for 12 points through six games. Keeping that same pace throughout the 82-game slate would lead to 164 points from the backend on top of whatever Carlson produces.
- John Carlson has the third-highest average game score in the league. Paired with Jakob Chychrun, Carlson is dominating and playing some of the best hockey in his career. When 74’s on the ice at 5v5, the Capitals have outscored their opponents 9-2 and have a 62.6 expected goals percentage. The Caps also have positive differentials in shot attempts (107-80), scoring chances (56-39), and high-danger chances (27-20).
Top average GameScore through 10-25-2024
(min 3 GP) pic.twitter.com/WgcqFQW5QF
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) October 25, 2024
- The five-game winning streak matches the longest streak from the entirety of last year. Washington had just one five-game winning streak all of last year. That streak, from November 10-22, was also the only winning streak of four games or more. The 2023-24 Capitals won three games in a row just seven times.
And Washington has done this without leaning on Alex Ovechkin (2 goals) and playing four of their six games against likely playoff teams: New Jersey (2), Vegas, and Dallas.
Washington’s next test will come on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning are 4-3 to start the season and have Nikita Kucherov, the NHL’s leading goal scorer, firing on all cylinders.
After playing Tampa Bay, the Capitals will return home for three in a row against the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, and Columbus Blue Jackets. Washington needs to win three of their next four to match the 2015-16 Caps’ record through 10 games (8-2).
