The Washington Capitals began their 50th season with pomp and circumstance as plenty of former players, coaches, and broadcasters returned to D.C. earlier this month to celebrate a half-century of hockey in the region.
While they began the regular season with a 5-3 loss to New Jersey, they’ve owned October by winning seven of eight games. We’ll try to track their anniversary campaign with monthly check-ins as the team tries to make the playoffs for a second straight season while captain Alex Ovechkin chases Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record.
The team is also celebrating their milestone season with sweet giveaways. Expect this update to drop on the first of every month.
Record: 7-2-0, tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division with Carolina, three points better than Columbus and four points better than Ottawa. Now the “second place” tag comes with a caveat as they’ve accumulated their 14 standings points over nine games (1.56 per game) while the division-leading New Jersey Devils has 16 points over 13 games (1.23). But it remains early and the phrase to live by at least through Thanksgiving is “small sample size.”
Rankings: Fourth (4.11 goals per game) in scoring and tied for tenth (3.00) in goals against, 30th (9.4%) on the power play and 10th (81.8%) on the penalty kill. Again, it’s early.
Hot Sticks: Tom Wilson has a team-high six goals while Dylan Strome leads the club with 10 assists and 13 points. Wilson also tallied his first career “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” (goal-assist-fight) on Halloween night.
Ovi Odometer: Alex Ovechkin has five goals in the early season, giving 858 career tallies which stands 36 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL mark. He’s on pace to score 46 this season which would give him the record by April.
Matchup of the Month: On Friday, Nov. 8, the celebration of a half-century continues with giveaways honoring the first few years of the franchise, also known as “The Pioneers.” Pittsburgh drops by the district and while Sidney Crosby can still do his thing (score goals and play dirty), the Penguins have been struggling (4-7-1 in October). Fans who show up also score an original Capitals replica jersey.
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