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Week 8 Ups and Downs

Posted on by Becca
Photo courtesy of the Washington Capitals

Each Monday throughout the season, we’ll take a look at the previous week to see who is on the upswing and who stumbled, and reflect back on a highlight and lowlight from the week.

Disclaimer: If a player is listed as “trending up”, that does not mean they have been perfect; if they are “trending down”, it doesn’t mean they had the worst week ever. So don’t come for us. Please.

Here is how things went for the Washington Capitals in Week 8 of the 2023-24 season:

  • Record: 2-1-1
  • Goals For: 12
  • Goals Against: 12
  • PK: 75% (9-for-12)
  • PP: 7.7% (1-for-13)

Trending Up:

  • Dylan Strome. Strome continued to have the hot hand this week, picking up two goals against the Stars – including the 100th goal of his career, which just happened to be assisted by the greatest goal-scorer of all time – and adding one against the ‘Hawks Sunday night. That made him the first Cap to clear double digits in goals this season, bringing his team-leading goal total up to 11.
  • Anthony Mantha. Speaking of hot hands this week, Mantha has gotten on a bit of a run himself, picking up an assist against the Stars before posting a rather pretty goal in each of the last two games:
  • Nic Dowd. Dowd wrapped up a really strong couple of games for the fourth line with a pair of goals against the Blackhawks Sunday night. The first one may not have been pretty, but it was exactly the type of greasy, gritty, hard-working goal the Caps have needed to get when the offense has struggled.
  • Nicolas Aubé-Kubel. Aubé-Kubel, who had a beauty of a goal against the Rangers and then added an assist in Chicago for a two-point week. The fourth line’s underlying numbers weren’t great this week, something which wasn’t helped by a team-wide disaster in Arizona at the beginning of this four-game stretch. Considering their role, though, they weren’t awful, either – and it’s nice to see that hard-working trio get rewarded on the scoresheet this week. (Although we could do without their penchant for penalties…)

Trending Down:

  • Hendrix Lapierre. It wasn’t a bad week, per se, for Lapierre – just not a very effective one, which made him the top choice for a return to Hershey once T.J. Oshie was healthy enough to resume his spot in the lineup. Also, in a week in which all but two players had at least a point…it’s not good to be one of the two.
  • The penalty kill. For the first part of the season, the Caps’ penalty killers were probably their greatest asset, killing off almost 85% of their penalties over the season’s first 15 games…but that has certainly changed of late, with the team having given up nine power-play goals (tied for second-most) in their last 34 times shorthanded. That trend continued this week, the Caps’ PK squad giving up three goals on 12 opportunities. Not good.

Lowlight of the Week

Giving up a 2-on-0 is never ideal. Doing so while on the power play (and then allowing a goal)…yiiiiikes.

Highlight of the Week

Lots of pretty goals this week, and plenty of ugly ones, as well – so we’ll go with the one that had not one but two milestones attached to it, as Strome gets career goal #100 and Alex Ovechkin gets point #1500:

Talking Points