November 13 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Toronto Maple Leafs (9-6-2)
Washington Capitals (10-4-0)
Washington gets its first 2024-25 look at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night when the Leafs come to the District to finish up a set of midweek back-to-back games. Wednesday’s game is the Caps’ tenth home game of the season, which is barely a month old. And after Toronto’s visit to town, the Capitals’ schedule gets road heavy; Washington plays 14 of its next 21 games away from the friendly confines of Capital One Arena.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s 8-1 dismantling of the Blues in St. Louis, the Caps returned home to enjoy a scheduled Sunday off day. Following an optional practice on Monday, the Caps reconvened for a full practice on Tuesday as they prepare for a stretch of four games in six nights, all against formidable foes.
And early Tuesday evening, the Caps announced the first trade of the Chris Patrick era. Just over four months after he was named the Capitals’ senior vice president and general manager, Patrick packaged a pair of draft picks – Washington’s own third-rounder in 2027 and Chicago’s fifth-rounder in 2025 – and sent them to Pittsburgh in exchange for old friend Lars Eller.
Eller was a key member of Washington’s 2017-18 Stanley Cup championship team – he scored a number of big goals during the playoffs, including the Game 5 Cup-clincher on June 7, 2018 – and the 35-year-old center returns to the fold a month into the 2024-25 season, more than 20 months since he departed for Colorado in a March 1, 2023 trade.
With Pittsburgh this season, Eller had four goals and seven points in 17 games, which placed him fifth on a top-heavy Penguins scoring ledger. Eller’s 56 percent face-off win rate this season ranks him 17th in the League among those who have taken at least 150 draws. Washington’s team face-off rate of 47.7 percent ranks 26th in the circuit.
As a Penguin this season, Eller’s average of 16:25 in nightly ice time ranked fifth among the team’s forwards. His game average of 2:08 in shorthanded ice time was third among Pittsburgh forwards.
In a corollary transaction to the Eller acquisition, Washington loaned center Mike Sgarbossa to AHL Hershey. Sgarbossa had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s win over the Blues in St. Louis.
A month into the season, there’s plenty to like about the way the Capitals are playing. They’ve won 10 of 14 games to start the season, and they have yet to lose two games in a row. That’s a claim that only three other teams can make, including fellow Metro Division denizens Carolina and the New York Rangers. Scotty Arniel’s 15-1-0 Winnipeg Jets are obviously the other.
Among Washington’s eight goals in Saturday’s game were a pair of third-period power-play strikes. The Caps entered that game ranked last in the League with the extra man, but their excellence at 5-on-5 has helped mask some early struggles on the power play.
Washington’s top line of Aliaksei Protas, Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin has outscored the opposition 13-4 at 5-on-5 through 14 games. And Washington’s second line of Connor McMichael, P-L Dubois and Tom Wilson has added a dozen goals at 5-on-5, while controlling play to the tune of a 61.87 percent share of all shots on net while they’re on the ice.
“I think everybody in here is just having a lot of fun,” says Caps’ center P-L Dubois. “It’s cliché, and it’s not the most exciting answer, but when you show up to the rink and everybody’s got a smile on their face and everybody’s happy to be here, it changes a lot.
“Whether we’re down in a game or whether we don’t have the start that we want, there are going to be ups and downs. But I think this group is really resilient and we’re just enjoying it all together at the same time. As the season goes on, we’ll have some ups and downs. But when you have a tight group, it helps.”
Toronto takes a one-game respite from a home heavy stretch to fly south and take on the Capitals in DC on Wednesday. The Leafs finished a four-game homestand against Atlantic Division opponents on Tuesday, and they’ll head right back home for three more home games, beginning with a Saturday night tilt against the Edmonton Oilers.
Seeking to run the table on that aforementioned four-game homestand against the Atlantic, the Leafs failed by falling in the finale on Tuesday night. Facing the Ottawa Senators, the Leafs fell down early when Ottawa’s Josh Norris scored in the first minute of the game. The Sens struck for a pair of quick ones in the second, scoring twice in 43 seconds to deepen the Toronto hole.
The two goals gave the Sens a nice cushion, but they only needed the Norris marker in a 3-0 win over Toronto. Tuesday’s setback ended the Leafs’ modest three-game winning streak, their second three-game run of the season. Toronto also opened the season with a shutout loss, falling 1-0 to Sam Montembeault and the Canadiens in Montreal on Oct. 9.
