Washington Capitals fans came back in droves for the team’s first game of the 2020-21 season, Thursday.
According to Capitals PR, the Caps’ 6-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres was the highest-rated regular season game on NBC Sports Washington since the 2018-19 season and the most-streamed regular season game on record.
Well, well, well…what do we have here? It’s another season of NHL hockey and another season to overreact to numbers of the daybreak variety. Join me yet again as we travel alongside a new look Washington Capitals with a new face calling the shots behind the bench.
Those Caps kicked off their 2021 campaign with a big ole W, taking down the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 6-4.
By Chris Cerullo 2 years ago
Peter Laviolette had a bunch of free time in 2020. Canned by the Nashville Predators early in the year and then forced into quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic, Laviolette binge-watched TV to pass the time. One of the shows that he particularly enjoyed was Netflix’s Cobra Kai – a sequel series to The Karate Kid films.
Laviolette loved the show so much that he let it inspire the Capitals’ new ridiculous postgame awards. Plural. I’ll let coach explain.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
Nic Dowd could be getting a call from the Department of Player Safety in the near future.
Late in the third period of the Capitals’ season opener against the Sabres, Dowd skated laterally across the neutral zone to deliver a bodycheck to Eric Staal.
The thought was there, but the execution was off.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
Hey! Hockey’s back. Let’s pretend the pandemic doesn’t exist for a few minutes. The Caps just beat the Sabres, starting off the Laviolette era in a sloppy but successful manner.
Alex Ovechkin served up his Only True Center, Nicke Backstrom, who scored the first goal of the season. The Sabres responded with a power-play goal from Taylor Hall, who I am sad to report really does play for the Sabres now. TJ Oshie turned Ovechkin’s rebound into a goal, and that got us through the first period.
The second period was more of the (good) same, with John Carlson scoring on a breakaway. The Caps killed a penalty, and then Brenden Dillon finally got his first goal as a Cap. Tobias Reider got a greasy goal late in the period, but the Caps led 4-2 after two periods.
Winning a board battle and then making a swift pass across center ice, the Sabres made it a one-goal game early in the third, but Jakub Vrana responded immediately, stealing a puck from Eric Staal to score solo. With an extra attacker, Victor Olofsson buried a one-timer to make it a one-goal game late. No worries: Garnet Hathaway sunk an empty-netter.
Caps win!
By Peter Hassett 2 years ago
What does the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump’s impeachments, and Taylor Swift’s last two albums Folklore and Evermore have in common? These are all things that happened since Brenden Dillon last scored in the NHL.
Thursday, Dillon scored his first goal as a Capital and his first goal since December 12, 2019 (against NYR), as a member of the San Jose Sharks. That’s a 399-day goal drought.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
When Peter Laviolette joined the Capitals, we were told he’d get his defensive players more involved in the offense.
We saw exactly that when John Carlson notched his first goal of the season — with a perfect snipe on a breakaway.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
The first Caps goal of the 2020-21 season is in the books, and it belongs to Nicke.
Alex Ovechkin, in total a role reversal, assisted on the Nicklas Backstrom tally.
By Ian Oland 2 years ago
Let’s do it again. The NHL is back, albeit without fans and in a shortened season and Holtby is gone but Lundqvist is here no wait he isn’t Chara is here, yeah, Chara is a Capital. We’re just making it up as we go along.
The Washington Capitals’ season kicks off tonight at 7 PM as the team travels to Buffalo to beat the Sabres. Catch the NBC stream and hang out with us. Pete here reporting for duty, stealing valor, and doing good tweets.
By Peter Hassett 2 years ago
