The Washington Capitals hosted the Minnesota Wild at Capital One Arena on Friday night, the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. The Caps were looking to extend their early-season winning streak to four games, while the Wild are in the midst of a five-game road trip that will see them play four Metropolitan Division foes.
Dylan Strome opened the scoring late in the first period, guiding home a brilliant feed from Alex Ovechkin. After a scoreless first 17 minutes of the second period, Marcus Johansson tied the game with Minnesota’s fifth shot of the game. Aliaksei Protas quickly responded for the Capitals, restoring their one-goal lead.
Ovechkin notched his first of the season and 898th of his career off a faceoff early in the third period. Strome put away his second of the night to extend the lead further. Tom Wilson added another to make it five for the Capitals.
Capitals beat Wild 5-1!
- The Capitals put together a tremendous first period, which head coach Spencer Carbery noted pregame he wanted to see. At five-on-five, the Caps were up 22-9 in shot attempts, 12-2 in shots on goal, 12-2 in scoring chances, and 7-2 in high-danger chances. Filip Gustavsson was great in Minnesota’s net, but thankfully not great enough to keep the Capitals completely off the scoreboard after such a great start.
- Much was made of the Wild’s incredible power play coming into the game, as 10 of their 14 goals had come while up a man. The Capitals made light work of the first man advantage they had to face, allowing just one shot on goal. The many sleepless nights from Scott Allen and the rest of the coaching staff seemingly paid off.
- Dylan Strome got on the board for the first time this season, capitalizing on a pinpoint feed from Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin has historically beaten up on the Wild in his career, now tallying 40 points (21g, 19a) in 26 games against Minnesota. More on this promising, young star later in the recap.
Washington Capitals’ new Screaming Eagle third jerseys now available online
- Another absolutely stifling 20 minutes from the Capitals in the second period, as they limited the Wild to just three shots on goal for a second straight frame. While the ice was tilted, unfortunately, some of the early-season shooting woes are still present as they somehow only took a one-goal lead into the third.
- The only guy who seemingly can put the puck in the net consistently to start the year is Aliaksei Protas, who is now on pace for 66 goals this season after scoring his fourth goal in five games. His fourth was a lucky bounce off Gustavsson, but good players getting into good spots on the ice tend to get lucky more than others.
- Do we have to talk about this team’s power play? Can they please just figure it out so we don’t have to? The time when a team is supposed to be most dangerous has instead become a great time to get up for a snack or bathroom break. Another miserable showing. I’m not counting the one they scored when the Wild had completely given up with two minutes left in regulation.
- There was a literal bald eagle on the ice before the game. I don’t have much else to say other than bald eagles are f***ing awesome.
- More dominance in the third period. I don’t know if the Capitals have played a more complete game in recent memory. Goodness.
- Alex Ovechkin is on the board in his 21st career NHL season. Ovi slammed home his first of the year on a faceoff play we’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands, of times from the Capitals’ first line. The tally is the 898th of his legendary career and marks his 567th career even-strength goal, moving him past Gordie Howe (566) for the second-most even-strength goals in NHL history.
- Strome put away another in the third, so that’s the two big gunners seemingly heating up at the same time. Pair that with how this team is playing at five-on-five right now, and the Capitals are in business. Now, if they could just do literally anything on the power play. Sorry, yes, I brought it up again.
The Capitals will be back in action on Sunday afternoon when the Vancouver Canucks come to town. The Canucks’ top three scorers coming into tonight were three guys, Brock Boeser, Kiefer Sherwood, and Filip Chytil, who all have three goals and zero assists. I thought that was funny; you probably do not.
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