Hosting the Minnesota Wild, the Washington Capitals played one of those accursed mid-afternoon games to kick off November. A frustrating one on a couple levels.
The Wildlings scored twice in the first six minutes; Quinn Hughes from outside and then Michael McCarron following a turnover by Ilya Protas.
The Caps gathered their composure in the second period but got only one goal off it – Justin Sourdif tipping Cole Hutson‘s shot.
Maxim Shabanov scored off a faceoff to stick the dagger in, then Kirill Kaprizov put an additional dagger in with an empty net. Yet another dagger, which is really inelegant if you ask me, was inserted by Danila Yurov.
Wild beat Caps 5-1.
- Before the game, the Caps put Dylan McIlrath on waivers and acquired a goalie, gentleman detective Remi Poirier. The Jets and the Ducks are the only other teams carrying three goalies right now. It’s not typical to have three active goalies, and it’s pretty much never successful.
- Anyway, congrats to Jack St. Ivany, who had a major career glow-up in the last couple weeks. He almost scored today.
- Alex Ovechkin was on the ice for the two Minnesota goals in the first period, albeit with different linemates for each. I don’t mean to single him out. The second goal was more directly the fault of Ilya Protas, who duffed an outlet pass to create a turnover. That part of the play is annoyingly omitted from this highlight:
- I wish that highlights would always include the thing that made the goal happen in addition to the goal itself.
- At the other end of the ice, Jesper Wallstedt was infuriating. The Caps created a lot of chances in the second period – 12 according to Natural Stat Trick – and the Wild goalie stopped all of them but the last.
- (The Caps don’t need Larkin. They need defenders.)
- It was Justin Sourdif, next to Ovechkin in the slot, who deflected Cole Hutson‘s shot to crack the shutout, just as Chris soothsayed. Hutson has eight points on the season.
- Back to Ovechkin: He got robbed by Wallstedt late in the second period and then dribbled the puck along the goal line in the third.
- And for the record, Wallstedt is NOT on the list.
- Zach Bogosian masterfully sold a high-sticking penalty against Tom Wilson. The refs were so on-task they initially assigned the phantom penalty to Justin Sourdif. Distinguishing.
- Alex Tuch and Tom Wilson have mustaches for Movember to raise awareness for men’s health issues. I also have a mustache but only because I was Charlie Swan for Halloween. No one got it. I’m shaving it tomorrow. But do a self-exam on your testicles for real though.
What does Joe Beninati need to do to put you in a new car TODAY? #joebsuitofthenight of the mid afternoon
— Good Skeet Pete (@peterhassett.net) 2026-11-01T20:27:57.433Z
It’s dispiriting to have a game fall out of reach before it’s six minutes old. The Caps had some good play in the back half of the first period, all of the second, and the portions of the third not spent killing penalties. But the shot volume just wasn’t enough to beat Wallstedt and climb out of that two-goal hole. Ovechkin alone was a couple inches from tying and winning.
Another date with the Western Conference comes on Tuesday when the Dallas Stars visit on election day. That’ll be an interesting day.
