November 2 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena
Time: 5:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Columbus Blue Jackets (5-4-1)
Washington Capitals (7-2-0)
Carrying a five-game home ice winning streak, the Caps conclude a three-game homestand late Saturday afternoon when they face Columbus in the first of four Metro Division matchups this season. Saturday’s game also kicks off a weekend Metro set of back-to-back games for Washington, which will be Raleigh-bound soon after tangling with the Jackets. The Caps take on Carolina for the first time this season on Sunday afternoon in North Carolina’s capital city.
Three weeks into the 2024-25 season and with 15 November games looming ahead, things are mostly rosy for the Capitals. They won seven of their nine October games and have looked like a vastly different team than the one that squeaked into the postseason in the waning seconds of its ’23-24 regular season finale last April.
While last season’s Caps struggled to score – especially early in the season – this year’s model has consistently filled nets in the early going; they’ve scored four or more goals in six of their first nine games. The Caps have scored three goals in a period on seven occasions already this season; they needed 25 games to achieve the same feat in ’23-24.
“We’re generating more,” says Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery of the eye-opening uptick in offense. “Our [offensive] zone time is significantly higher than it was last year, so we’re trying to threaten the net more. We’re doing a lot of things which are leading to more shots and more [offensive] zone time – which, at the end of the day, if you keep accumulating that, you’re going to generate scoring chances, and hopefully finish. And we’ve been able to do that.”
They have, indeed. Through nine games last season, the Caps had scored 17 goals, with only 10 of them coming at 5-on-5. This season, they’ve scored 37 goals in their first nine games (their average of 4.11 per game is tied for fourth in the NHL) and 26 of them have been scored at 5-on-5, and 29 at even strength.
It’s been over 30 years since an NHL team increased its prior season’s goal output by 20 or more goals just nine games into a season. Back in 1992-93, three different teams turned the trick in the same season: Boston, Buffalo and Quebec.
“So far, we’ve been pretty consistent,” says Caps winger Tom Wilson. “And in this League, consistency is huge – it’s everything. After you lose a game, you’ve got to make sure you get right back on the horse and get back to doing the right things, pull that next game our way, and keep moving forward.”
The Caps have been able to do that thus far. After dropping their opener on Oct. 12, they stacked up five wins before tasting defeat again. After Thursday’s 6-3 win over the Canadiens, the Caps have now cobbled together a pair of wins since suffering their second loss.
Six different Caps scored in the win over Montreal, including Wilson and Alex Ovechkin. Wilson’s goal ended Washington’s six-game power play drought and was part of his first career Gordie Howe hat trick, in his 763rd regular season NHL game. Ovechkin’s career goal meter clicked up to 858, putting him 37 goals shy of surpassing Wayne Gretzky (894) for the all-time NHL record.
Washington’s shot suppression also continued; the Caps have yielded fewer than 20 shots on net in consecutive games; it’s the first time they’ve done so in just over nine years (Oct. 17-20, 2015). The Capitals have limited the opposition to fewer than 20 shots on net three times in a span of five games for the first time since Oct. 9-17, 2003.
Only once in franchise history have the Caps managed to string together three straight games of limiting the opposition to fewer than 20 shots on net. That took place from Feb. 2-7, 1995, early in the lockout-abbreviated 1994-95 season.
Montreal managed only 16 shots on the Washington net on Thursday, and despite enjoying over 10 minutes’ worth of power play time during the game, the Habs put just three pucks on Caps’ goaltender Charlie Lindgren with the man advantage.
“They stressed us,” says Carbery of the Canadiens’ power play. “And give us credit, whether it was a stick at the last second or a shot block from one of our guys to prevent the shot.”
The Capitals will be catching Columbus on the tail end of a set of back-to-backs. The Jackets hosted Winnipeg in the finale of a three-game homestand on Friday, and Saturday’s game in the District opens a five-game road trip for Columbus. The Jackets head west after Saturday’s game; they’ll spend the next week playing in California and in Seattle.
On Friday night in Columbus, the Jackets were seeking to do what Washington is aiming for on Saturday, to finish off the sweep of a three-game homestand. After alternating losses with wins for the first seven games of the season, the Blue Jackets walloped the Oilers 6-1 on Monday and they blanked the Islanders 2-0 on Wednesday.
The high-flying Jets proved to be too much for the Blue Jackets to handle on Friday; Winnipeg improved to 10-1-0 on the season with a 6-2 victory. Nikolaj Ehlers had a hat trick and four points to pace the Jets’ attack, which produced two goals in each period.
Like the Capitals, Columbus has had a home-heavy schedule in the early going and has played just three road games (1-1-1) to date on the season.
