The Washington Capitals faced the Dallas Stars at Capital One Arena on Thursday night. Dallas, 4-0 to start the season, is one of the NHL’s premier teams and is considered one of the league’s top Stanley Cup contenders this year, so they were a great early test for a still-gelling Capitals squad.
Colin Blackwell opened the scoring for the visitors, pouncing on a shorthanded breakaway opportunity. Tom Wilson converted on a bump set from Pierre-Luc Dubois to tie the game early in the second period. Dylan Strome sifted a point shot through major traffic to give Washington their first lead of the night.
Jason Robertson filtered a rebound try through Charlie Lindgren’s pads to tie things back up. Taylor Raddysh grabbed his first goal as a Cap to put the home team back in front at the second intermission.
Capitals beat Stars 3-2!
- The first period was full of special teams play and when the game was played five-on-five, neither team created a single high-danger chance. While that’s terribly boring for us spectators, it’s also incredibly encouraging from a Washington perspective as they went toe-to-toe with a typically dominant Stars attack.
- Aliaksei Protas was the Capitals’ most effective forward in the early going, creating multiple rush chances while Washington was shorthanded. The only thing still missing in big Pro’s game is the finish. He’ll be oodles more valuable to the team if he can convert some of these chances into goals.
- Remember when Dallas’s Jamie Benn won the 2014-15 Art Ross Trophy with just 87 points? Alex Ovechkin scored 53 goals in that dead puck season and should have won the Hart Trophy. Instead, Carey Price was chosen by the voters then because he plays in Montreal, and narrative, unfortunately, wins out with the MVP award more times than not.
Jakub Vrana related history fun fact.
The first-round pick that the Capitals sent the Detroit Red Wings in that deal for Anthony Mantha…
Eventually ended up with the Stars and Dallas used it to select Wyatt Johnston, their top line right wing tonight.
— RMNB (@rmnb) October 17, 2024
- After Dallas made a push in the first half of the second frame, the Capitals took control and dominated the rest of the period. They spent a lot of time in the offensive zone in possession of the puck which was something we rarely saw last year. Their zone entries were also noticeably good which is likely a contributing factor. No more dump and chase for 90 percent of regulation.
- Tom Wilson is attempting to prove David Pastrnak right this season. The big-rig has goals in three straight games to start the year. Dad strength bump?
- I love the way Pierre-Luc Dubois is playing early in this season. Great work in the corners on multiple shifts, set up Wilson for the Capitals’ first goal and nearly delivered a second goal for Wilson if it wasn’t for Casey DeSmith tripping the big winger. Connor McMichael also made a great back-checking play on a 2-on-1 rush for Dallas. If that line can effectively play this semi-shut-down role that Spencer Carbery has them currently playing…look out.
- Taylor Raddysh scored his first goal with the Capitals to give Washington a late second-period lead. Raddysh has scored 20 goals in the NHL before so that fourth line can no longer be considered just an “energy” type trio. They had another great night as a unit.
In honor of Oktoberfest, Slapshot is supervising the Mites on Ice in lederhosen with a giant pretzel. pic.twitter.com/L5rS1So4Xr
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) October 17, 2024
- Dallas picked up the pressure big time in the third, but Charlie Lindgren and the team’s defense held very strong. The defensive zone coverage in these past two games has been fifty levels above what it sometimes looked like last season.
- The penalty kill has been huge so far. Super aggressive, super effective, and super clutch.
- The Capitals hadn’t beaten the Stars at home since March 20, 2018, until tonight. Bad vibes gone.
In the words of Alex Ovechkin, "holy schmoley" what a suit combo in the booth tonight #joebsuitofthenight pic.twitter.com/wc3vswqycx
— RMNB (@rmnb) October 17, 2024
What a super encouraging start to this season. Washington will next play their first game on the road of the season, already meeting the New Jersey Devils for the second time this season.
