#washington-capitals

#washington-capitals

"I've never had a fight in my life, but I think things change over time, and I think people change. And I think when you see a teammate down like that and they try and push us around, I'm not going to stand for that. Just tried to jump in there, and next thing you know, gloves are off. And yeah, I thought it was a great fight."

I was kind of a Caps fan ever since. I just love the colors, love the eagle, everything about it. And I even remember back in 2018 when they won the Cup, I was overjoyed. And I was super happy to see them get one.

But let's talk about where it went wrong in this one game - and no, it wasn't special teams (although they did fail to score on their single power play opportunity and gave up a goal on their one-and-change times shorthanded). Thanks to a nice goal by Brandon Duhaime early and some luck by way of a Tampa own goal in the second, this was a 2-2 tie heading into the final frame of regulation.

"We're just trying to find the combination in our middle six," he said. "With Dubois out now, it's just been a challenge, whether it's (Connor McMichael) in the middle, and Sourdif, (Hendrix Lapierre). So we're trying to figure out what that's going to look like moving forward, whether Mikey can handle the Dubois sort of role, and what our third line looks like: is it Lappy? Is it Sourdif? How do we get Sourdif more involved and more impactful in a game? So those are things that we talk about and look at and dissect and make decisions."

It was an absolute pleasure to be the head coach of the Hershey Bears and leaving my post with this organization was an extremely difficult decision,

ARLINGTON, Va. - The Washington Capitals have loaned forward Spencer Smallman to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), senior vice president and general manager Chris Patrick announced today. In addition, the Capitals have activated forward Ethen Frank from injured reserve (IR). Smallman, 29, has recorded three points (2g, 1a) in six games with Hershey this season. The 6'1", 205-pound forward recorded 34 points (10g, 24a) in 62 games with Hershey during the 2024-25 season.

After being super-powered by the Eastern European delicacy, the Capitals score the most goals in a single game this season, and Ovechkin hit a long-awaited milestone. The Capitals captain became the first player in NHL history to score 900 career goals after he backhanded a Jakob Chychrun rebound past Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington just 2:39 into the game's second period.

The second period the Caps went off, scoring four goals, including Alexander Ovechkin's 900th which was a classis Ovechkin goal: a spin around back hander from below the left circle... that's his style, right? Anthony Beauvillier added two more, both beautiful goals: a top corner snipe and an ankle breaker move around the goalie for an open net. John Carlson also scored on a nice spin and rip from the slot.

As director of hockey analytics, Barnes was instrumental in incorporating data-driven decision-making into the day-to-day processes of the hockey operations department, overseeing the development of player valuation systems, trader tools for management, predictive frameworks for roster portfolio term risk, and technology to convert the insights of hockey operations management, scouts, and coaches into actionable metrics," the Capitals' description of Barnes' previous role reads.

Schueneman, 30, is a left-handed defenseman with six points (1g, 5a) in nine games for the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds this season. The former Western Michigan University standout has 35 games of NHL experience to his name, having played for both the Blues and the Montreal Canadiens. In his four games with the Blues last season, Schueneman averaged 14:03 of time on ice per game and had four shots on goal.

The Caps' losing streak hit four games over the weekend, the power play has more questions than answers and more in today's clips. Your savory breakfast links: A few leftovers from Saturday's shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres. [RMNB] The Washington Capitals' losing streak hit four games this weekend, a sharp contrast to last season's vibes. [WaPo ($)] What in the world is going on with the Caps? [THN]

After rallying from a 3-1 hole in the series, the Capitals eventually fell in overtime of Game 7 via a controversial power-play goal from Joffrey Lupul. "Nobody thought we gonna make the playoffs and then, if you remember, we play against Philly and that was a bad call from ref in Game 7 in OT," Ovechkin said. The "bad call" that Ovechkin refers to was a two-minute minor penalty for tripping assessed to defenseman Tom Poti.

The Washington Capitals control play well during five-on-five. Our best tool for measuring puck possession is shot attempts. The Caps are the team behind 55.4 percent of attempts in their games, third best in the league behind Colorado and Carolina. Early-season possession is a good indicator of success later in the season. We should feel good about the Caps' ability to drive play, but there's a big caveat.

Frank went to the locker room in the final minutes of the third period after appearing to lay a body check on Stars winger Mikko Rantanen. When the two collided near the boards, Rantanen - who is listed as five inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than Frank - barely seemed to move, leaving Frank to absorb the full impact. The hit sent Frank flying backwards before he landed hard on his right arm and side.