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Capitals Power Rankings Roundup: Week 3

Outlet This Week Last Week What They’re Saying
B/R logo 12 5 They’re probably a little too low here, but there’s plenty of time to solidify their spot in future rankings.

The Caps won three of their first four games, the only loss being a 5-0 shutout at home to San Jose. Captain Alex Ovechkin missed that game because he said, per CBSSports, he set his smartphone alarm clock to “p.m.” instead of “a.m.” Hey, I’ve done that too. But a captain can’t be doing that, especially one making $9.5 million a year.

Nicklas Backstrom had a nice season debut on Saturday with a goal and two assists, and T.J. Oshie has looked good so far after coming over from St. Louis. (October 19)

CBS Sports logo 3 4 The Caps are 3-1 to start the year and now have Nicklas Backstrom back in the lineup after he missed the first three games of the year. Now at full strength, look for the Caps to really hit their stride. (October 20)
CSNMA Logo 7 5 An Ovechkin-less Washington was blown out by San Jose, but they followed that up with two strong wins. With the return of Nicklas Backstrom, we will soon get a good look at the team’s full lineup. (October 19)
12 13 Alex Ovechkin finds his alarm clock and Nicklas Backstrom is back in the Caps’ lineup. (October 19)
6 8 Games without Alexander Ovechkin: 0 goals for, 5 goals against, 0-1 record. Games with Alexander Ovechkin: 13 goals for, 5 goals against, 3-0 record. The offense looked incredibly dangerous, even without Nicklas Backstrom. But now that Backstrom has returned, this team is infinitely better. (October 19)
THN Logo 5 (October 19)
NESN logo 2 10 The Capitals’ only loss was to a good team (San Jose Sharks), and Alexander Ovechkin didn’t play because he was benched for over-sleeping and missing the morning skate. (October 21)
2 9 What’s good: Nicklas Backstrom is back in a big way, with three goals and five points in his first two games.

What’s not so good: It’s hard to find flaws in wins against Chicago, Carolina and Calgary by a combined score of 14-4.

Top rookie: RW Stanislav Galiev (0-1-1 in two games) (October 23)

Score logo 6 13 The Capitals are undefeated when Alex Ovechkin doesn’t sleep in. (October 21)
SI Logo 6 9 Nicklas Backstrom is back and after a three-point debut it looks like his off-season hip surgery went pretty well. It was a nice return to form for Braden Holtby as well. Leaving his history of slow starts in the past, he was stellar in holding the Hurricanes and the Blackhawks to a single goal apiece. Last week: 2-1-0 (October 20)
Sportsnet logo 4 17 Washington has tried unproven forwards Stanislav Galiev and Chandler Stephenson for a couple games each, but the veterans run the ship here and have the club on a three-game tear. (October 22)
Debuting next week
TSS 9 8 It would appear that this year is The Washington Capitals have looked like one of the NHL’s better teams, picking up victories against the Devils and Blackhawks, though they did lose to the Sharks (albeit without Alexander Ovechkin, who missed practice that day after he set his alarm to P.M instead of A.M).

Nicklas Backstrom is still on injured reserve, and when he returns, a dynamic offense will only get more dangerous, and the Caps will be a stronger team. (October 17)

USAT logo 5 Who knows?

Click on logos for links to full power rankings.

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