Opponents: Rangers (5-3 W); Canadiens (6-3 W); Blue Jackets (6-2 W); Hurricanes (4-2 L)
Throughout the season, we’ll check in on the Washington Capitals to see which players, positions, and/or systems are hot and who is…well, not. We’ll kick things off with a look at how the team has done in their games between October 28 and November 3.
Hot Front

Alex Ovechkin. Over the last week, nobody in the NHL has more goals or points than the Caps’ captain, who has regained his scoring touch once again (as if it were ever in doubt) with five goals and nine points in his last four games.
He’s also, btw, doing things like this in a game his team had long since won:
Aliaksei Protas. Protas continues his breakout start with a great week, putting up a ton of points alongside his linemates, Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. In fact, Protas finished the week third in scoring on the team, putting up three goals and seven points in his last four games. He’s found a new gear in his skating, getting breakaways and cashing in but also using his big body to help his line on the forecheck and create havoc in front of the net. Just an awesome start for #21.
Trevor van Riemsdyk. We talked about how well he was doing defensively last week; this week, it’s his offense that has been on fire, as he led all Caps blueliners in points over the last four games (four assists). He’s also picked up some slack with the absence of another defenseman in Jakub Chychrun, finishing the week with the second-highest ice time at even strength at just over 18 minutes (1 second more than John Carlson).
Cold Snap

Holding a lead. As Coach Carbery noted recently, the Capitals are not exactly used to playing with a lead. Last season, they only led after the first or second period in a little over a quarter over their games; this year, they’ve led after the first seven times, and eight times after the second period. While they’ve only lost one of those – yesterday in Carolina, where they came out of the opening frame up 2-1 – they’ve struggled at times with keeping their feet on the gas and not letting teams in, especially of late. Hopefully it’s something that happens frequently and they can adjust, and it’s certainly nothing to panic over (for now) – but this week, it was something of a concern.