After an exhilarating start to the season, rougher waters could be ahead for the Washington Capitals’ offense as Alex Ovechkin got injured against the Utah Hockey Club on Monday and is out week-to-week due to a lower-body injury.
The next major story in the news cycle will be: How do the Capitals weather the storm with Ovi out? But before that, let’s appreciate what the Capitals did and what some individual players accomplished in their first 18 games of the season with most of the lineup healthy.
Why? Because it’s been some incredible hockey and these may be heights the team could struggle to reach again later in the year.
Capitals accomplishments 18 games in
- Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals with 15. And at age 39, that’s something that’s never been done before. He’s also the oldest player to be the first in the NHL to reach 15 goals.
Per @PR_NHL, Alex Ovechkin is the first player in NHL history age 39 or older to be the League’s first skater to 15 goals in a season. Prior to Ovechkin, the oldest player was Frank Mahovlich (33y, 304d on Nov. 10, 1971).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 19, 2024
- Alex Ovechkin has the highest goals per game rate of his career this season. If he could continue his pace, Ovi’s 0.83 goals per game rate would be a single season career high in the stat and comes after a career low of 0.39 in 2023-24.
| Season | Goals | Games | GPG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 52 | 81 | 0.64 |
| 2006-07 | 46 | 82 | 0.56 |
| 2007-08 | 65 | 82 | 0.79 |
| 2008-09 | 56 | 79 | 0.71 |
| 2009-10 | 50 | 72 | 0.69 |
| 2010-11 | 32 | 79 | 0.41 |
| 2011-12 | 38 | 78 | 0.49 |
| 2012-13 | 32 | 48 | 0.67 |
| 2013-14 | 51 | 78 | 0.65 |
| 2014-15 | 53 | 81 | 0.65 |
| 2015-16 | 50 | 79 | 0.63 |
| 2016-17 | 33 | 82 | 0.40 |
| 2017-18 | 49 | 82 | 0.60 |
| 2018-19 | 51 | 81 | 0.63 |
| 2019-20 | 48 | 68 | 0.71 |
| 2020-21 | 24 | 45 | 0.53 |
| 2021-22 | 50 | 77 | 0.65 |
| 2022-23 | 42 | 73 | 0.58 |
| 2023-24 | 31 | 79 | 0.39 |
| 2024-25 | 15 | 18 | 0.83 |
- Connor McMichael leads the league in 5v5 goals with 11. At 23, McMichael is out-pacing some of the best scorers in the league, forming a powerful line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson. Alex Oveckhkin sits third with 9.
| Player | 5v5 Goals |
|---|---|
| Connor McMichael | 11 |
| Tage Thompson | 10 |
| Alex Ovechkin | 9 |
| Nikita Kucherov | 8 |
| Alex Laferriere | 8 |
| Jack Roslovic | 8 |
| Martin Necas | 7 |
| Leon Draisaitl | 7 |
| Matt Duchene | 7 |
| William Nylander | 7 |
- The Capitals have the most goals scored by a trio of teammates. Alex Ovechkin (15), Connor McMichael (12), and Aliaksei Protas (7) have combined to score 34 goals — five more than the next closest NHL trio — per Sportsnet Stats.
Most goals by trio of teammates…
Ovechkin, McMichael, Protas (WSH): 34
Nylander, Tavares, Knies (TOR): 29
Connor, Ehlers, Scheifele (WPG): 29#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ou4A4Bsn65— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) November 19, 2024
- Aliaksei Protas set a new career-high in goals in 60 fewer games than last year. While skating on the first line with Ovechkin and Dyan Strome, Protas has scored 7 goals in 15 games — a 0.39 goals per game stretch. Before this season, Protas, in his previous 169 career games, averaged 0.08 goals per game a night, notching 13 goals total.
Pro has already established a new career high in goals with seven in 60 less games pic.twitter.com/iSZdVwZaTl
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 19, 2024
- The Washington Capitals lead the NHL in goals scored (as of the morning of Nov. 19). Last season was a true struggle to find the back of the net as the Capitals scored the fifth fewest goals (220) in the NHL. But this season, after several summer acquisitions and a rejuvenated Ovi took the ice, the Caps are pacing the league with 78 in their first 18 games. They also lead the league in goals per game at 4.33.
| Team | Goals | Goals Per Game |
|---|---|---|
| Capitals | 78 | 4.33 |
| Jets | 74 | 4.11 |
| Devils | 72 | 3.43 |
| Golden Knights | 72 | 4.00 |
| Hurricanes | 68 | 4.00 |
| Panthers | 66 | 3.67 |
| Avalanche | 64 | 3.37 |
- The Capitals have scored six or more goals in six of their first 18 games this season. Per Capitals PR, the Capitals scored only six goals in five of their 82 games last season. In this year’s big games, the Caps have scored 6 vs NJD on 10/19; 6 vs PHI on 10/23; 6 vs MTL on 10/31; 7 vs CBJ on 11/2; 8 vs STL on 11/9; and 6 vs Utah on 11/18.
- The Capitals are second overall in goal differential. Last season, the Capitals set the NHL salary-cap record with the worst goal differential to make the playoffs at -37. This season, through 18 games, they are +28.
- The Capitals sit top 10 in the league at five-on-five in expected goals percentage (51.9%), scoring chance percentage (51.6%), and high-danger chance percentage (53.3%). Last season, their highest mark in any of those three categories at the year’s end was 24th in high-danger chance percentage (48.1%).
- Per MoneyPuck, all four of the Capitals’ most common forward lines this season are garnering over 50 percent of the expected goals when on the ice at five-on-five. The team’s second line, made up of Connor McMichael, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Tom Wilson, leads the pack, seeing 56.4 percent of the expected goals during their minutes.
| Line | xGoals percentage |
|---|---|
| McMichael-Dubois-Wilson | 56.4% |
| Duhaime-Dowd-Raddysh | 54.7% |
| Ovechkin-Strome-Protas | 51.2% |
| Vrana-Lapierre-Mangiapane | 50.0% |
- Through 18 games, the Capitals have already reached half of the goal output from defensemen (10) that they got all of last year (20). Jakob Chychrun leads the way with five goals, which ranks tied for second among all NHL defenders.
- Dylan Strome ranks fifth in the NHL in points. Strome, centering Ovechkin and Protas, has notched 28 points (6g, 22a) through 18 games. His 22 assists are the third most in the league, trailing just Jack Eichel (23) and Nathan MacKinnon (27). Strome’s current pace has him on target to record 127 points (27g, 100a) over a full 82-game slate. His previous single-season career-high in points is the 67 (27g, 40a) he posted last year. Strome also assisted on Ovechkin’s first 11 goals this season, tying a Nicklas Backstrom record.
Thanks to how much the Capitals offense is clicking, the team thas won 13 of its first 18 games of the year, suffering only four regulation losses. The Capitals are off to the third best start in the NHL this season with a .750 points percentage. Only the Winnipeg Jets (.833) and Carolina Hurricanes (.765) have won more prolifically. The Capitals lead the Metropolitan Division with 27 standings points — though Carolina sits one point behind and with a game in-hand.
The chemistry the Capitals had early this season was truly special and how far they go this year in a possible playoff appearance will depend on if they can re-find this pace of play. It was simply some of the best hockey the team’s played during the Ovechkin Era.
