Added 7 players this offseason to bolster roster around Ovechkin
WASHINGTON -- These are not last season’s Washington Capitals.
That has been clear through the Capitals’ first six games of this season, including a 6-3 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers at Capital One Arena on Wednesday.
With wins in five straight games, Washington is 5-1-0 for the first time since 2015-16. Sure, the sample size is small and there are some areas the Capitals need to clean up. A 4-0 lead became 4-3 on Wednesday before they pulled away with late empty-net goals from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Ovechkin.
But there’s a lot to be happy about through their first six games.
“This is the start you want, right?” Dubois said. “We’re probably not going to go 81-1, but you want to ride the waves as long as you can. And it’s not perfect. Tonight wasn’t perfect. Last game wasn’t perfect.
“None of the games were perfect, but to find a way to win the game, that’s what the top teams do, and we want to get there.”
The most noticeable difference is the Capitals' offensive production. After squeaking into the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference with a scoring-challenged team that was 29th in the NHL with 2.75 goals per game, Washington is tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for third in the League averaging 4.33 goals through its first half dozen games.
Part of that is the payoff from an aggressive offseason in which Washington brought in seven new players as part its plan to retool on the fly while building a bridge to life after Ovechkin, the 39-year-old left wing who is in his 20th NHL season. Dubois, who was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings for goalie Darcy Kuemper, was the biggest name and has fit in well centering the second line between Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson.
The Capitals also traded for forward Andrew Mangiapane (Calgary Flames), defenseman Jakob Chychrun (Ottawa Senators) and goalie Logan Thompson (Vegas Golden Knights), and signed defenseman Matt Roy (six years, $34.5 million contract) and forwards Brandon Duhaime (two years, $3.7 million contract) and Taylor Raddysh (one year, $1 million).
Roy sustained a lower-body injury in the second period of a 5-3 loss in the season opener against the New Jersey Devils and hasn’t played since, but everything else has gone as well as the Capitals could have hoped.
“They’ve made a huge difference in a ton of different areas,” coach Spencer Carbery said of the newcomers. “So, they deserve a lot of credit, the guys that have come in that have sort of fit in seamlessly and performed and learned the things that we’re trying to do offensively with the puck. So, there’s that and the other part of it for me is our leadership group and our veteran players dragging them in and showing them and setting the tone and talking about that things that we have to do.”
Dubois had three points (one goal, two assists) and McMichael scored twice on Wednesday to help the Capitals complete a sweep of a home-and-home series with the Flyers following a 4-1 win in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Wilson was held off the score sheet for the second straight game after scoring five goals in the first four games.
But the Capitals have gotten contributions from throughout their lineup. Raddysh and returnee Nic Dowd, who have teamed with Duhaime on the fourth line, each scored his second goal of the season Wednesday, and Thompson helped hold off the Flyers’ furious comeback attempt with 26 saves to earn his third win in as many starts this season.
Mangiapane has three points (two goals, one assist) playing mostly on the third line with Hendrix Lapierre and Jakub Vrana. Chychrun has four points (two goals, two assists) playing on dual-threat top defense pair with John Carlson, who has six points (two goals, four assists), adding another offensive element to a team that got only 20 goals from its defensemen last season.
Dylan Strome, who centers the top line between Aliaksei Protas and Ovechkin, leads the Capitals with nine points (three goals, six assists), followed by McMichael, the 23-year-old who appears to be coming into his own with eight points (three goals, five assists).
“I think guys are excited to play this season and guys are excited to see where this goes,” Dowd said. “We’ve got some veteran guys on this team that are willing to help out, but guys have just meshed really well. It’s been good.”
The Capitals have scored at least three goals in each of their six games, which matches their longest stretch of consecutive games with three goals at any point last season. Their five-game winning streak also equals their longest from last season (Nov. 10-Nov. 22, 2023).
That Washington has done this with Ovechkin scoring only two goals (he has three assists) demonstrates its improved depth. Carbery expects more goals to come from Ovechkin, who moved within 40 of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record with his 855th goal, eventually, though, and hopes the empty-net goal might spark him.
“He’s getting into some good areas and even on the power play, he’s getting his shot off and they’re just not going in now for him,” Carbery said. “So, I think that will help.”
Regardless, the Capitals look like a different team so far, one more confident in its ability to score than the one that relied heavily on goaltending from Charlie Lindgren and trying to win 2-1 on most nights last season. As Dubois noted, sustaining this for 76 more regular-season games will be the key.
“It’s a long season,” said Dubois, who has five points (one goal, four assists) in the first six games.
“There’s going to be ups and downs, so you don’t want to be too high, but when it’s going well, you also have to enjoy it. You have to ride it as long as you can.”
