Takeaways from Capitals First 11 Games

The Washington Capitals have gotten through the first month of the season and sit in a comfortable position in a tight race to the top of the Metropolitan Divison. They're tied as of Tuesday morning with the Carolina Hurricanes. Just one point behind the New York Rangers and two points behind the New Jersey Devils.

Oct 10 vs. New Jersey L 5-3: This was a rusty team that didn't play until Saturday when the season started on Tuesday. Of course we knew the Devils would be good and that's why they're in first right now. No surpises but they fought till the bitter end. John Carlson, however, would give us a sneak peak of what's to come on offense with a power play goal to begin the season.

Oct. 15 vs. Vegas Golden Knights W 4-2: In a Stanley Cup Final rematch, the Caps would prevail to give Logan Thompson his first win of the season which came against his former team, as he made 24 saves off 26 shots. Jakub Vrana struck for his first goal of the season and first goal with the Caps since 2021. Tom Wilson scored on the power play, Aliaksei Protas and Jakob Chychrun cleaned it up.

Oct. 17 vs. Dallas Stars W 3-2: The Caps took down another west coast heavyweight in the Stars to give them their first loss of the season. Tom Wilson scored for the third straight game while Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh finished it off. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves.

Oct. 19 at New Jersey Devils W 6-5 OT: This was a wild game. And it was revenge for what the Devils did to the Caps a week prior. After NJ struck first, Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael and Alex Ovechkin all struck. The Devils would tie it with two straight goals from Nico Hischier. Andrew Mangiapane and Dylan Strome put the Caps up by two prior to the third before the Devils tied it with two goals in the third period. In overtime Tom Wilson would end it with a minute left.

Oct. 22 at Philadelphia Flyers W 4-1: At the spot where the Caps made the playoffs last season, once again they would prevail over the Flyers this time with a final of 4-1. What did the Flyers in that night was two shorthanded goals in the first period from Nic Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane. John Carlson and Jakob Chychrun would finish it off. Charlie Lindgren made 17 of 18 stops.

Oct. 23 vs. Philadelphia Flyers W 6-3: The Caps scored a touchdown on the Flyers a night later. Taylor Raddysh, Nic Dowd, Connor McMichael x2, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Alex Ovechkin would score and it would give the Flyers their sixth straight loss. McMichael's goals came at the span of 3:12 as he continues to exceed expectations.

Oct. 26 at Tampa Bay Lightning L 3-0: This ended the five game winning streak as Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves. The Caps outshot the Bolts 32-21 so they were trying but they ultimately couldn't solve the hot hand that night.

Oct. 29 vs. New York Rangers W 5-3: In a clash of the titans of the Metropoltian Division, the Caps put up five on the team that knocked them out of the playoffs two days before Halloween. Alex Ovechkin scored twice, Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas and Nic Dowd would finish the scoring.

Oct. 31 vs. Montreal Canadiens W 6-3: Two nights later on Halloween night the Caps scored six on the Montreal Canadiens. Tom Wilson got things started with a power play goal. Brandon Duhaime, Jakub Vrana, Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, Alex Ovechkin would score. Charlie Lindgren made 12 saves as the Caps defense only allowed 15 shots.

Nov. 2 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets W 7-2: This was a dominant win. Seven goals on the Blue Jackets. A touchdown and an extra point. Aliaksei Protas, Connor McMichel, Andrew Mangiapane, Alex Ovechkin, Nic Dowd, Connor McMichael, and Dylan Strome all scored.

Nov. 3 at Carolina Hurricanes L 4-2: The Caps would drop the second game of the back to back. Ovechkin would strike on the power play and Brandon Duhaime would provide the other goal. They weren't going to beat a tough Carolina team in that building after just scoring seven goals the night before but despite this, Ovechkin's PPG puts him 35 away from Wayne Gretzky.