The Washington Capitals delivered a victory to their fans in this year’s home opener at Capital One Arena. The Caps jumped out to a three-goal lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins and never trailed in what eventually became a 5-3 win.
Never feels bad to see the Capitals stomp on the Penguins. Good result for Alex Ovechkin‘s final-ever home opener.
- The Capitals did most of their best work in the first half of the game, especially in a dominant first period. At five-on-five in the first frame, the Caps led by a large margin in shot attempts (24-10), shots on goal (9-4), scoring chances (13-3), high-danger chances (9-2), and expected goals (1.28-0.31). Some of that momentum carried over into the second period, where they used some quick-strike offense to go up 4-1, but they definitely let their foot off the gas pedal after that. The Caps only managed three total five-on-five high-danger chances in the second and third periods combined.
- Pierre-Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson, and Alex Tuch‘s line was the big story of the night, as they absolutely torched the Penguins. All three forwards scored in the win, with Dubois also netting two total points (1g, 1a) and Wilson grabbing three of his own (1g, 2a). With PLD on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals recorded heavily positive differentials in shot attempts (+9), shots (+4), goals (+3), scoring chances (+7), and high-danger chances (+5). Tuch now has three goals in his first three games with the Caps.
- Anthony Beauvillier scored just 23 seconds into the first period, marking the second-fastest goal to kick off a Capitals home opener in franchise history. The only faster goal came in 2017, when Alex Ovechkin dented the twine just 20 seconds into a game against the Montreal Canadiens. Beauvillier’s goal was also his 300th career NHL point.
- Logan Thompson had to make some big stops in the latter half of the game and ended the night with 27 total on 30 shots faced. According to MoneyPuck, he saved 1.07 more goals than expected, almost two goals better than his counterpart in Pittsburgh’s net, Arturs Silovs, who allowed 1.01 more goals than expected. Only Ilya Sorokin (4.5) and Joseph Woll (3.2) rank ahead of Thompson (2.9) in total goals saved above expected among goalies with only two starts.
- Sidney Crosby ended the night with zero points and a minus-4 rating. The Dubois line did all of that damage. Ha.
- Only three Capitals skaters who have played in all three games so far this season, defensive defensemen Martin Fehervary, Timothy Liljegren, and Vincent Desharnais, have not recorded a point yet. This team will live and die by its depth scoring, and the early signs are very good.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
