The Washington Capitals secured another home win before dropping a road contest in this weekend’s back-to-back contests. Washington dismantled the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 7-2 win at Capital One Arena on Saturday before a 275-mile journey to North Carolina. The Capitals were unable to find a tying third-period goal in a tough 4-2 road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
Washington (8-3-0) plays three games this upcoming week with hectic weekend schedule. D.C.’s hockey team will host Nashville (4-6-1) on Wednesday and Pittsburgh (5-7-1) on Friday night before an 818-mile flight to St. Louis for a Saturday night contest against the Blues (6-6-0).
Washington Capitals blitz Columbus in the First Period
Spencer Carbery’s Washington Capitals hockey club was ready for a 50th Anniversary Party on a Saturday evening in November. The unfortunate combatants were a Columbus Blue Jackets team that had played well to start the NHL season.
Washington scored twice inside the first two minutes to kickstart the festivities before unleashing a five-goal outburst before the end of the first regulation period. Alex Ovechkin scored his 859th career goal in the first period where it felt like Capital One Arena just never stopped celebrating.
Columbus scored twice in the second period, however, the game was out of reach at 6-2. Dylan Strome scored a late third-period goal for the 7-2 final for the Washington Capitals.
Hurricanes Hold off Capitals in the Third Period
The very next night, the Capitals traveled to North Carolina for a Sunday evening hockey fight with the Carolina Hurricanes. Longtime former Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored twice against his old club in the 4-2 victory.
Orlov started the scoring in the first period with his second goal of the season. His seeing-eye shot navigated a net-front screen and past Charlie Lindgren. However, it was the Washington Capitals with the last laugh before intermission following two last-minute scores for the 2-1 lead. Alex Ovechkin his seventh of the year at 19:16 of the first period followed by Brandon Duhaime thirty-three seconds later.
Carolina tied the game and took the lead in the early stages of the second period. Hurricanes center Martin Necas tied the game followed by that Orlov fellow again to give Carolina a 3-2 advantage the Canes never relinquished. Andrei Svechnikov hit the empty net to cap the 4-2 result.
Alex Ovechkin scored two goals this weekend increasing his career regular-season number to 860. Wayne Gretzky finished with 894 regular-season scores leaving the Washington Capitals captain 34 goals short of a tie. Ovechkin has scored 7 goals in the first 11 games of the 2024-25 regular season.
A Look at the Metro Standings After 10+ Games
This weekend’s result leaves the Washington Capitals among the early elite teams in the 2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings. The New York Rangers lead the way with 17 points, followed by a three-way tie between Carolina, Washington, and New Jersey all with 16 points.
A five-point gap has opened in the Metro with Columbus (11), Pittsburgh (11), NY Islanders (10), and Philadelphia (9). The problem for the teams in this paragraph is that none of them have games in hand on the teams above them in the table.
