The Washington Capitals are rockin’ and rollin’ out to a four-game winning streak early in the 2025-26 season. The team’s latest win, a 5-1 beatdown of the Minnesota Wild, was easily their best so far through five games.
I think that was legitimately the best 60 minutes that I’ve seen the Capitals play since the Barry Trotz era Presidents’ Trophy teams. They were that dominant in all three zones for the entirety of regulation.
- This game felt like what the Capitals will look like if they perfectly execute what Spencer Carbery wants them to do. The Wild had seven total shots on goal through 40 minutes of play and were never in the contest from the second that Penny the bald eagle left the ice. At five-on-five, the Caps owned 66.3 percent of the shot attempts, 71.9 percent of the scoring chances, and 78.6 percent of the high-danger chances. Logan Thompson could have had a snooze in net, despite what he hilariously said postgame.
- Alex Ovechkin got on the board with his 898th career goal, snapping home a blistering shot right off a third-period offensive zone faceoff. Ovi has scored 21 goals in 26 career games against the Wild, the highest goals-per-game rate (0.81) he has recorded against a single franchise. The goal was also the 567th of his career at even strength, moving him past Gordie Howe (566) for the second-most even-strength goals in NHL history.
- The whole first line had a great night, with Ovechkin (1g, 1a), Dylan Strome (2g, 2a), and Anthony Beauvillier (1a) combining for seven points. Strome was obviously the standout with his third career four-point game. The Capitals were nearly spotless with the trio on the ice at five-on-five, posting majorly positive differentials in shot attempts (+13), shots on goal (+8), goals (+3), scoring chances (+7), and high-danger chances (+4).
- I’m going to sneak in my jersey hot take right here. I think this version of the Screagle is great — better than the normal home uniforms — but it’s also significantly more boring and less cool than the prior black version, the first red version, and the original white version. The goal should be to go in the other direction as you continue to update with the design. I don’t think they’ve achieved that.
- Carbery gave major props to his fourth line postgame, so I wanted to see if the stats matched up with the love. While Nic Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, and Justin Sourdif were good, just like the entirety of the Capitals’ team, I think the club’s bench boss may have just been pumping the tires a little of a line that doesn’t usually get a ton of love and hasn’t cracked the scoresheet just yet. They were the only line to give up more than one high-danger chance to the Wild. Still, a great showing, and I really enjoy what Sourdif is bringing to that line from a speed standpoint.
- Ho-hum, another tremendous game from John Carlson this season. The 35-year-old defender recorded an assist on Tom Wilson’s late power-play goal, and he and his defense partner, Martin Fehervary, had a dominant play-driving night. With Carlson on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals ended the game up 29-9 in shot attempts, 18-3 in shots, 21-5 in scoring chances, and 12-2 in high-danger chances. Carlson, whose primary defense partner was not Fehervary last season (this is for my Crashers crowd – I still love you), is off to another hot start statistically, even with the change in partner.
- Are we going to let the team’s power play off the hook because of that late goal? I don’t think so. If there is anything to complain about early this season, it’s the lackadaisical, seemingly idea-less man-advantage units. They went 1-for-5 after that Wilson marker, and let’s just hope that spurs some things on because…yikes.
- Going to use this last bullet for another personal observation. The Capitals’ win was their 600th ever at Capital One Arena, but, man, that place was DEATHLY quiet for about 58 minutes of the 60-minute game. I know the Wild aren’t a heated rival or anything, but the Caps were utterly dominant in a Friday night game, are coming off an East-best finish last season, and this year could be Ovechkin’s last with the club. It feels like the game experience in the arena needs a heavy, heavy update, as they’ve been relying on some of the same stuff for what feels like two decades. I don’t love that the first steps of the near $1 billion in arena renovations were to get rid of a few sections in favor of extending luxury suites and putting in a slew of empty trillion-dollar seats near the penalty boxes. Hopefully, there is more to come that injects some new life into the building.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
