The Washington Capitals Keep Winning – Here’s Why

The NHL’s top teams faced off  and it was nothing short of exciting. The Washington Capitals (23-5-5) defeated the Boston Bruins (20-7-6) at Capitol One Arena 3-2 with goals coming from T.J. Oshie (2) and John Carlson (1).

This just continues to prove the greatness of this Capitals team. Here’s some keys to how they are on pace to win yet another Presidents Trophy for NHL’s top team during the regular season.

Keys for Capitals success so far in 2019-20:

 

Goalie Play

Braden Holtby has a total of 16 wins thus far in net for the Capitals. Backup goalie Ilya Samsonov has seven total wins in nine games, with a .917 save percentage. Holtby already has half of the wins he totaled all of last season.

 

Home Away From Home

The Capitals have the best road record in the NHL thus far at 14-2-1 Very impressive in terms of consistency away from Capitol One Arena but it’s not like they aren’t winning at home either.

 

Next Man Up Mentality

The Capitals have had multiple players in and out of the lineup throughout the season but it doesn’t stop their dominance. Jakub Vrana scored the game-winning goal against the Anaheim Ducks to give the Caps’ the 3-2 lead which was the final on the road. Vrana has 15 goals and is on pace to score 40 goals.

 

Physicality

The Capitals are ranked seventh in the league in hits with 736. Whenever the Capitals are top ten in hits, they’re proven to be more dominant just like their other seasons.

 

Special Teams

The Capitals are currently ranked fifth on the power-play (24.5%) and eleventh on the penalty-kill (84%). Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom usually control the power-play. With more contributions coming from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vrana as well, the Capitals look to improve their power-play percentage.

This Washington Capitals head down to Florida to play the Tampa Bay Lighting on Saturday night.