November 8 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN+, Hulu
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Caps Radio 24/7
Pittsburgh Penguins (5-8-2)
Washington Capitals (9-3-0)
On November 8 in Washington, with the Great Eight – Alex Ovechkin – sitting at eight goals on the season, the Caps take aim at their eighth consecutive home victory. The Pittsburgh Penguins are in town for a nationally televised Metro Division matchup, the first of four meetings this season of longtime captains Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby as both play their 20th NHL seasons.
Friday’s game against the Pens is also the front end of a set of back-to-backs for the Capitals, who will make their way to the Midwest immediately afterwards; they’ve got a Saturday night date with the Blues in St. Louis. This weekend marks the second of four sets of games on consecutive nights for the Capitals in November.
The Caps earned their seventh consecutive home victory – and the 1,000th win in the quarter century majority ownership of Ted Leonsis; only two teams have won more games over that span – on Wednesday night when they prevailed in a hard fought, tight-checking affair over Nashville, 3-2.
With the game all even at 2-2 midway through the third period, Dylan Strome issued a centering feed from behind the Nashville net, setting up Ovechkin for the game-winner. Ovechkin’s eighth of the season also extended his goal streak to five straight games, the 15th streak of five or more games with a goal in his NHL career; only Mario Lemieux (17) and Wayne Gretzky (16) have more.
Ovechkin also joined Hockey Hall of Famers Brett Hull (seven games from Nov. 26-Dec. 8, 2003) and Johnny Bucyk (six games from Dec. 10-19, 1974) as just the third player aged 39 or older to manage a streak of five or more straight games with a goal.
Wednesday’s goal was also the 130th game-winning goal of Ovechkin’s career, putting him five game-winners shy of matching Jaromir Jagr for the all-time League mark in that category.
Including his late-season surge in 2023-24, Ovechkin has now scored 31 goals in his last 48 regular season games; in the lockout shortened season of 2012-13, he scored 32 goals in 48 games to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. Ovechkin’s ability to put together such a lengthy run of goal-scoring prosperity in his 19th and 20th seasons in the League has supercharged his push toward Gretzky’s all-time NHL mark of 894. Ovechkin (861) is now 34 goals away from passing No. 99.
“He’s chasing something special, and you just want to enjoy it,” says linemate Aliaksei Protas. “The fact he’s doing it at 39 years old, it’s so impressive; it’s unbelievable. And we were so happy for him, and we just wish him nothing but keep going.”
Ovechkin’s linemates – Strome and Protas have also had heavy hands in the captain’s spree. Each member of the trio has produced at a point per game – or better – pace through the first dozen games, and Strome (four goals, 15 assists) has had a point in 11 of 12 games this season. Strome leads the Caps in scoring, and he is tied with Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor and Vegas’ Jack Eichel for eighth in the NHL’s scoring chase, heading into Thursday night’s slate of activity.
Strome’s helper on Ovechkin’s game-winner was the 200th assist of his NHL career. Strome is tied for third in the NHL in assists; only Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (19) and Cale Makar (18) have more.
In his fourth NHL season, the 23-year-old Protas has found a home on the team’s top line. He has a dozen points in as many games this season, and his total of five goals is one shy of his output from last season.
The trio has played nearly 100 minutes together this season, and they’ve been on the ice for a dozen Washington goals and just three goals against. For the first time since 2017-18, Ovechkin has scored seven of his first eight goals at even strength.
Wednesday’s win over Nashville came on the heels of a Sunday night loss in Carolina, so Washington has followed each of its three losses this season with a victory in the following game. The Caps were able to stack up five wins after their opening night loss to New Jersey, and they strung together three straight wins in the aftermath of their second loss, a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of the Lightning on Oct. 26.
“For sure it’s a big one,” says Protas of Wednesday’s win. “I think it’s all about the team; we know as soon as we lose, we just want to get it back as soon as possible. It comes from inside the room; we’re just a group of guys who want to win. And as soon as we lost, we were for sure frustrated and want to get it back.”
The victory over Nashville also extended the Caps’ home winning streak to seven, their longest since a seven-game roll from Feb. 24-March 28, 2018. Washington’s most recent home winning streak of more than seven games was also during that epic 2017-18 season that culminated in a Stanley Cup crown. From Dec. 2, 2017-Jan. 9, 2018, the Caps reeled off 10 straight home ice victories, tied for the fourth-longest streak of its kind in franchise history.
With the Penguins making the first of their two visits to town this season, the Caps will now aim to extend their longest home winning streak in almost seven years while also trying to stack wins in the aftermath of the loss in Carolina last weekend. Washington is 5-2 against Metropolitan Division opponents this season.
Pittsburgh will be playing a Metro foe for the second time in as many nights on Friday; the Pens were in Raleigh on Thursday night where they were the victims of Carolina’s eighth straight victory. Pittsburgh outshot the high-volume Hurricanes for much of the first two periods, but surrendered two goals in each of the first two frames in a 5-1 loss.
Following a rugged 0-5-1 stretch late last month, the Pens put together consecutive home wins over Anaheim and Montreal. But as they finish a three-game Metro tour – in four nights – on Friday in DC, the Penguins are still seeking their first win of the trip. They lost a 4-3 shootout decision to the Isles in New York in Tuesday’s trip opener. Pittsburgh is 2-5-2 on the road this season.
Like Ovechkin, Crosby and his linemates – Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell – are off to a stellar start in 2024-25. The three veterans are Pittsburgh’s top three scorers through the first 15 games, and they’ve combined to score more than a third of the team’s goals to date.
