ARLINGTON, VA — The Washington Capitals have gotten off to one of their best starts in recent memory. More than 30 games into the season, the Caps have put up a 21-8-2 record and rank third in the NHL — leading the league with a .710 points percentage.
Now, the Caps are looking to maintain their explosive pace through the final two-thirds of the campaign. The team recorded just their second multi-game losing streak of the season earlier this week, falling in back-to-back games to the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks, but head coach Spencer Carbery doesn’t see reason for panic.
“I’m confident in our group,” he told reporters Thursday. “It’s a long season and we’ve played well and we’ve put ourselves in good spots. Losing — I thought we played a really good game in Dallas. You don’t get the result. Thought we were non-existent in Chicago. You don’t get the result. But to draw conclusions on who we are as a team by the Chicago game, I think would be — am I allowed to use this word? — idiotic. We haven’t shown that over the season.”
The Capitals’ current dominance stands in stark contrast to their performance in recent years. Washington missed the playoffs in 2022-23, breaking an eight-year streak, and just barely squeaked into the postseason in 2023-24 with a win in Game 82. This year, the Caps are on pace for a 116-point season, which would mark their best year since the Presidents’ Trophy-winning 2016-17 team.
Carbery noted that many of his players have had little prior experience on top-performing teams, making this year somewhat of an adjustment period.
“I believe, and I am very confident our locker room believes, that we’re a top team in the National Hockey League,” he said. “We’re able to play with the best teams in the league, and we believe that we can do something special. So now, a lot of our group, this is a little bit of uncharted territory, new for some guys. It’s not like we’ve been, i.e. the Florida Panthers or the Toronto Maple Leafs– I’m just using those two as an example — who’ve been knocking on the door, Stanley Cup champions. Toronto’s been knocking, yeah, they haven’t had [playoff success], but you know who they are, right?
“We’re learning to be, ‘Oh, okay, we can be a top team in this league and we can do it consistently.’ So you’ve got to learn how to play with that through an 82-game schedule. We’ve shown it through [31 games], now we’ve got [51 to go]. So you’ve got to stay consistent with that. You’re going to have ebbs and flows, but then you’ve got to get yourself out of it. You’ve got to continue to grow your game. You’ve got to get ready to play hard games. You’ve got to get ready to play really good opponents on there. All this stuff that we’re trying to learn how to do right now.”
The Capitals’ leap up the standings hasn’t gone without notice. Opponents are far less likely to underestimate a team near the top of the league, something Carbery has seen bear out on the ice. Adjusting to those expectations, too, has been a new experience for many players.
“When you’ve got a target on your back, when you’re sitting at the top of the standings or the top of the division, you’re going to get everybody’s best,” Carbery said. “We’re learning how to play within that. Teams are defending us way harder now, I notice. Beginning of the year, we got way more odd-man rushes, breakaways, two-on-ones. The Dallas game, we got zero odd-man rushes.
“So we’ve got to find a way, Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael, to create offense in an environment against a tough team — they defend well, you get no two-on-ones tonight. How are you going to have one and one? Or how are you going to create offensively and have two points tonight? That’s sort of our next step as a team.”
With Alex Ovechkin preparing for a possible return as soon as this weekend, the Capitals could soon have another weapon in their offensive arsenal. They will play the Carolina Hurricanes, LA Kings, and Boston Bruins over the next four days before pausing for the holiday break.
