The Washington Capitals are like Fred Durst in 2000 right now; they just keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, and rollin’. With their 7-2 stomping of the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, Washington has won three in a row and eight of their first 10 games.
While this game as a whole wasn’t as pretty as some of their past efforts, you can’t complain about scoring seven goals. More of that.
#NHL GameScore Impact Card for Washington Capitals on 2024-11-02:#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/i5SaycSSmG
— HockeyStatCards (@hockeystatcards) November 2, 2024
- The Capitals ended this game within the first 20 minutes, scoring five unanswered goals. Katie has you covered with all the crazy stats from that outburst in her post if you want to go and check that out. I get to talk about the second period which happens to be the worst period the Capitals have played this season. While Columbus didn’t exactly take advantage of what they accomplished, you never want to get out-attempted 30-13, outshot 16-7, and out-chanced 16-7. Washington smoothed things out in the third and scored the only goal in the final frame.
- Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas can’t stop scoring. McMichael has seven goals in his last seven games to lead the team while Protas has had three straight multi-point games.
- Alex Ovechkin scored again, giving him 859 career goals. The Great Eight is just 36 goals away from passing Wayne Gretzky for the all-time goals record. His six goals through 10 games is a 49-goal pace over a full 82 games. The 39-year-old winger has eight points (4g, 4a) in his last three games.
The Capitals blocked a season-high 30 shots tonight against Columbus. It marks just the seventh time that Washington has blocked thirty or more shots in a single game since the NHL began tracking in 2005-06.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 3, 2024
- Trevor van Riemsdyk recorded 14 points (14a) in 70 games last season. He has already recorded seven points (7a) in 10 games this season. That sees him currently tied with names like Moritz Seider, Rasmus Dahlin, Lane Hutson, Dougie Hamilton, Roman Josi, and Evan Bouchard in total scoring. I’ve always been a big TVR fan but even I’m like, damn, that’s a hot start.
- Dylan Strome is tied for eighth in the NHL in scoring with his 16 points (4g, 12a) through 10 games. His current production rate sees him on pace for a 131-point season.
- I hate complaining about the officiating, especially in a 7-2 win, but one of my least favorite things in hockey is when a team goes up by a lot and the referees then actively act like they no longer exist. I thought there was a bunch of weird charity from the officials toward Columbus. There was only one power play for the home team, and it was a very short one, an obvious icing call gets brought back to center ice because the Blue Jackets complained, quick offside decisions, and Logan Thompson did not get a whistle after the puck was underneath him for three seconds. Game management officiating is the worst.
- Since losing to the New Jersey Devils in their Home Opener, the Caps have gone 5-0 against the Metropolitan Division. Let’s hope they can make that 6-0 against a super-tough Carolina Hurricanes team tonight. I think this one is going to be a schedule loss, but I’ve also already learned not to doubt this 2024-25 team.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
