Well, well, well. The Washington Capitals of 2026-27 are here, and they’re good. They sprinted to a three-goal lead in the first period, but they let the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes stay in the game with unfortunate penalties.
Alex Tuch scored his first as a Cap after Pierre-Luc Dubois outworked Canes goalie Brandon Bussi behind his own net. Cole Hutson outlasted Mark Jankowski to make it 2-0, assisted by both Protae, then Tuch got his second goal of the game a few minutes later.
Jakob Chychrun‘s seeing-eye puck made its fall debut to help the Caps convert their first power play. Alas, it couldn’t last forever: Sebastian Aho got a power-play goal after a nice bounce following Tom Wilson‘s block. That goal changed everythi – oh nevermind, Ryan Leonard scored eight seconds later, a one-touch from Dylan Strome.
Halfway into the third period, Logan Stankoven – and if you know the joke, please share it in the comments – beat Thompson with a nasty outside shot.
Caps beat Canes 5-2!
- Bullets bullets bullets. Okay, you’ve got this, Peter. You’ve done this hundreds of times. Thousands. Just write about the game. Have fun. If you do it right, no one will notice that you’re a fraud. Pursue the power of positive thought. Make sure to delete this before posting.
- Alex Tuch had two goals in his first period as a Washington Capital. He could have completed the hat trick shorthanded, but the puck rolled on him. We will be with this fella for a long time. This was the perfect first chapter.
- After watching that goal, you gotta think Tulsky got his calculator out and re-ran the numbers on Connor Hellebuyck. (I still think Bussi is better, as of now).
- The Caps committed six (non-offsetting) penalties, so very many more than Carolina’s lone slashing call. LT and PK put the KO on 83.3333333 percent of those shorthanded situations, but that’s still a goofy amount of penalties in game one.
- Cole Hutson got busted for two of those penalties: an interference and a hold. I was going to say that his most notable trait was relative lack of hugeness, but his penalties overshadowed it.
- From the Umbrella Corporation out-of-town scoreboard, could you imagine a worse start for the Red Wings? “Sell the team” at the home opener!
- I didn’t know what to expect from them, but I really liked the fourth line of Jenner, Sourdif, and Beauvillier. They got Washington-typical deployments (i.e. no faceoffs in the offensive zone)
- If you read my cord-cutting story or updated how-to-watch guide, then you may wish to know that the gear icon overlay on the Monumental app is already gone.
Time for another great year with my two best friends in my most demented parasocial fixation#joebsuitofthenight
— Good Skeet Pete (@peterhassett.net) 2026-10-02T22:58:58.761Z
Star of the night, no doubt, was goalie Logan Thompson, who was impossible to catch out of position. I have to doff my cap, however, to the meat shield erected in front of him. Matt Roy and Marty Fehervary combined for double-digit blocked shots. Their sacrifice and that of the other eleven skaters who stepped in front of shots mattered a lot as the Canes started controlling the puck better late in the game.
I would have been delighted to watch an 8-0 thigh-slapping, slapstick, season-opening blowout, but watching the Caps cope with the redoubling Canes through gutsy play is encouraging in its own different way. We are just 1.19 percent into this season, but we’ve already seen this new roster play – and score and win – in different ways. Don’t get me wrong though – bury them in pucks is still plan A.
Talk to you tomorrow night in Tampa.
