Biggest surprises from Capitals first month of the season

The Washington Capitals shocked the entire hockey world with their hot start to the month of October. Let's break it down further.

Going into Sunday's defeat at Carolina, the Caps won eight of their last nine games after going 5-4-1 through the first 10 games a year ago. They only scored 19 goals at that piont. Through the 10 game stretch the Caps have scored 44 goals.

After last night's defeat that number went up to 46 goals which has them tied for fifth with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The other teams ahead of them include the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Winnipeg Jets.

The Caps scored five or more goals in five of their 10 games to begin the season. Last season the Caps scored five plus goals in 10 of their 82 games.

Heading into Sunday's game the Caps ranked second in the NHL in shots against per game at a rate of 25.2 percent. In Saturday's win against Columbus the Caps blocked a season high 30 shots and it marked just the seventh time the Caps blocked 30 plus shots in a single game since the NHL began tracking in 2005-06.

On Oct. 31 against Montreal, the Caps surrendered 15 shots against which was the fewest shots they have allowed in a game this season after allowing 19 shots two days prior. It marked the first time the Caps held an opponent to fewer than 20 shots in back to back games siince Oct. 17-20, 2015.

In their last six games overall heading into Sunday, the Caps allowed fewer than 20 shots. Per Natural Stat Trick, the Caps have played with the lead for a league high 368:37 of game this season despite playing the second fewest minutes in the NHL.

The Caps 85:51 minutes spent trailing is the second lowest total in the NHL. Minnesota Wild is the lowest at 58. Caps have scored first in seven of their 10 games this season.

Dylan Strome leads the Caps with 17 points with four goals and 13 assists. Alex Ovechkin has 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points and his hot start puts him 35 goals away from Wayne Gretzky. Connor McMichael has seven goals and five assists for 12 points.

Oh and we can't end this post without talking about the goaltending. Logan Thompson is 5-0-0 with a 2.97 goals against average and a .894 save percentage. Charlie Lindgren is 3-3-0 with a 2.70 goals against average as well as an .896 save percentage.