📸 : RMNB
Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in. It’s me, here for another season of game-by-game analysis mixed with a dash of complaining and a funny quip once every three weeks.
If you’re new here, this series of posts, titled “numbers for the morning after,” is where we take a look at how the Washington Capitals played the night prior in the scope of pure numbers and just numbers. Well, most of the time. Sometimes something in the game upsets me enough that I vaguely refer to a number, before, moreso, just waxing poetic about an inane unwritten hockey rule that no one but me probably cares about.
Anyway, the Capitals kicked off their 2025-26 season with a not-so-fun 3-1 loss on home ice to the Boston Bruins. The Wednesday night matchup at Capital One Arena saw the Caps do some good, some bad, and some in between. Don’t worry, we get real specific here.
- After a really rough first period at five-on-five, the Capitals got their act together and pretty much dominated the rest of regulation. They created nine high-danger chances in the second period alone, contributing to what on paper was 2.11 expected goals. The only problem with that is that exactly zero of those pucks got past Jeremy Swayman in Boston’s net. So, in summary, the Caps did beat up on what is not a very good Bruins team, but didn’t get the two points. Not the end of the world.
- Tom Wilson picked up where he left off last season with the lone goal for the good guys. Willy was all over the ice in the loss, throwing five notable, heavy hits, as well as recording three shots on goal, seven shot attempts, six individual scoring chances, three individual high-danger chances, and one drawn penalty. He played 22:15 of ice time, the third most of any Capitals skater.
- While the five-on-five stuff eventually looked pretty great, we can’t say the same about the power play. The Capitals went 0-for-5 while up a man, including failing to capitalize on a nearly minute-long 5-on-3 advantage. You won’t win too many games doing that.
Tom Wilson scores the Capitals’ first goal of the season. Wilson, who scored a career-high 33 goals in 2024-25, is now four points shy of 400 career points (180g-216a–396p).
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) October 9, 2025
- John Carlson, 36, had a tremendous play-driving night. With him on the ice at five-on-five (18:40 of ice time), the Capitals saw positive differentials in shot attempts (+12), scoring chances (+11), and high-danger chances (+5). I think Carlson has somehow become underrated, both locally and nationally. Especially considering Team USA just blatantly skipped him over for their orientation camp this summer. Well, now that I think about it, that’s pretty expected from Bill Guerin and co. They don’t make the easy decisions. Everything has to be bizarre and make no sense.
- Seeking to find some instant chemistry, head coach Spencer Carbery sent out nine different combinations of forward lines throughout regulation. We shall see if the line jumbling persists in practice later this week.
- Logan Thompson had a fine first start of the season, stopping 18 of the 20 shots he faced. Per MoneyPuck, he saved 0.4 more goals than expected, but was outdueled by Swayman, who saved 3.3 more goals than expected.
Numbers thanks to Hockey-Reference, NaturalStatTrick, and HockeyStatCards.
