Capitals make light work of Kraken as early-season domination continues: numbers for the morning after

📸 : RMNB

The Washington Capitals continued their dominant run of play to start the 2025-26 season with a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. They completely shut down a tired and banged-up Kraken team, finishing their four-game homestand with a 3-1 record.

Another pretty much complete performance.

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• Through 40 minutes of this game, the Capitals looked nearly unbeatable. At five-on-five, they were up 47-29 in shot attempts, 23-9 in shots on goal, 23-8 in scoring chances, and 11-1 in high-danger chances. I think they let the Kraken back into the game a little in the third due to what I thought was some unnecessary bench shortening by the coaching staff. The Capitals created far less offense in the third, and the Kraken actually outshot them 7-5.
• One of the main victims of the bench shortening was Hendrix Lapierre, who had an incredibly strong first two periods before being stapled to the bench in the third. With him on the ice in the win, the Capitals finished up 20-6 in shot attempts, 9-1 in shots, 10-0 in scoring chances, and 5-0 in high-danger chances. I obviously love Spencer Carbery, but I really disagreed with taking Lapierre out of the game. He was having a great night on the wing after some uncertainty to begin the season, and probably could have used a confidence boost of playing that whole victory out in the top six. Especially, considering the Kraken quite literally created nothing when he jumped over the boards in the first two periods.
• Ryan Leonard potted his third goal of the season, putting him on pace for 35 markers in his true rookie season. Leonard (10:22) played even less than Lapierre (10:46). I get wanting to get out of the homestand with a win, but I think a very weak Kraken team is a great chance for the young guys to get some late-game ice time. Am I wrong, chat?

Washington has a record of 44-23-7 (.642 P%) following a loss under head coach Spencer Carbery.

— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) October 22, 2025

• The Capitals have scored a power-play goal in four straight games. You have to give them a lot of credit for working on the fly to put together a first unit that looks really dangerous. Jakob Chychrun is having a tremendous start to the year, his goal giving him six points (3g, 3a) in seven games.
• Let’s do a bit of a season check-in, with accompanying league ranks, after the long homestand. At five-on-five, through seven games, the Capitals have seen 57.5 percent of shot attempts (3rd), 59.5 percent of expected goals (3rd), 60.6 percent of scoring chances (2nd), and 68.2 percent of high-danger chances (1st). I will urge some caution, though, as they have played just two playoff teams from last year so far, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Minnesota Wild.
• Despite what feels like a fantastic start, the Capitals (10 points) are actually only “fourth” in the Metropolitan Division, behind the Carolina Hurricanes (10 points), New Jersey Devils (10 points), and Pittsburgh Penguins (10 points). The Devils are on a five-game winning streak that is likely to end soon, as their underlying numbers aren’t the best. The Penguins should fall off at some point, and the Hurricanes are… well, we know.

Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.