The Washington Capitals fended off a trap game against the young Montreal Canadiens, using three unanswered goals in the third period to secure another two points. The Caps are now 7-2 through nine games and just two points behind the New Jersey Devils for first in the Metropolitan Division with four games in hand.
Washington’s 6-3 victory is already their fourth win this season with five or more goals.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-10-31:#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/vgn6h8Pcy3
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) November 1, 2024
- If you made an order of another game where the Capitals absolutely shellack a team at five-on-five, you got exactly that on Thursday night. Washington ended regulation with a 62-30 edge in shot attempts, a 31-10 edge in scoring chances, and a 17-4 edge in high-danger chances. Montreal was almost nonexistent on the ice when the game was played at full strength.
- However, the Capitals also sat in the box way too much, allowing the Canadiens to find some respite on their power plays and create a mini-surge in the second period that saw them take a brief 2-1 lead. The Caps put the Habs on six power plays, including a lengthy 5-on-3 during the third period. Five penalties were split evenly between five players, and the sixth was a bench minor, so there was no specific player to blame for lack of discipline.
- Washington finally struck on a power play, ending a 0-for-21 drought. The Capitals created 1.64 expected goals while up a man, so the man-advantage unit was cooking. However, I didn’t love the execution of the 5-on-3 late in the game, which I also didn’t love overall last year. I’d like to see them try something different other than Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson swapping spots every now and then.
- Tom Wilson somehow only just now recorded the first Gordie Howe hat trick of his career. He has six goals in nine games (nice) to lead the team.
The Capitals finish October with a record of 7-2-0 (.778 point percentage). It marks Washington's third-highest point percentage in a single October in franchise history (2021-22: .813; 2015-16: .800; 2011-12: .778).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 1, 2024
- Alex Ovechkin struck for his 858th career goal and victimized a new goaltender for the 176th time. Ovi is now just 37 goals shy of a tie with Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goals record. He is currently on pace to score another 40 goals this season.
- As you can see from the impact card chart, John Carlson had quite a night. The veteran blueliner skated a season-high 28:30 of ice time, recorded an assist, two shots, nine individual shot attempts, five individual scoring chances, two individual high-danger chances, and three blocked shots. With Carlson on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals out-attempted Montreal 32-9, out-scoring chanced them 18-4, out-high danger chanced them 9-1, and outscored them 3-0. All of that without Jakob Chychrun, his regular partner this season, who he has been excellent with to start the year.
- I also want to keep recognizing Pierre-Luc Dubois because I don’t know if there’s an unluckier guy in the NHL right now. If some pucks dropped right for him, he could easily have 10 more points this season. His line is still absolutely cruising, seeing a Halloween-esque 66.6 percent of the expected goals with Dubois on the ice at five-on-five.
- Alex Alexeyev was also incredibly steady in his season debut. Another NHL team out there would be wise to try and pry him from the Caps because he’s good enough to play on a less crowded roster every night. Double-A skated 12:43 in the win, and the Capitals did not give up a single scoring chance or high-danger chance with him on the ice. Washington controlled 95.1 percent of the expected goals with him over the boards.
- Good to see Brandon Duhaime get on the board for the first time as a member of the Caps. He seems like a locker room favorite. (Barks like dog)
Numbers thanks to Hockey-reference.com and NaturalStatTrick.com.
